To help investors keep up with the markets, we present our ETF Scorecard. The Scorecard takes a step back and looks at how various asset classes across the globe are performing.
As a side note, the weekly performance is from last Friday’s open to this week’s Thursday close.
This week, earnings continue to be in the center stage of equities. U.S. securities did fairly well, since most major health care companies beat earnings expectations this week, but energy companies did not do so well. The markets would’ve done even better had new home sales not fallen to an annual rate of 468,000 this September, which is below analyst expectations of 549,000. During the FOMC meeting on Wednesday, the Fed announced it will keep rates as they are with a hawkish overtone that December might be the month when rates begin to rise. Another thing to consider this week is the gain in the U.S. dollar; if the strong U.S. dollar persists, this will have negative consequences for a lot of multi-national companies.
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Risk Appetite Review
U.S. equity markets closed off well on Thursday. The overall market, as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) in this case, was up 0.76%. SPY was actually the best performer out of these ETFs. The High Beta ETF (SPHB ) has underperformed the rest of the market as it closed off low at a loss of 0.64%.
Major Index Review
Across the board, major global indexes were up for the week, with the exception of the MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA ) and Emerging Markets ETF (EEM ) that decreased slightly by 1.21% and 4.24%, respectively. The NASDAQ-100 ETF (QQQ ) was the “best” performer this week and over the rolling month. Overall, good performance for all major indexes over the rolling month.
Foreign Equity Review
All foreign equities are down this week, especially equities in the BRIC countries. The Chinese ETF (FXI ) is the “worst” performer, with a 4.88% loss. The Russian (RSX ), Brazilian (EWZ ) and Indian (EPI ) ETFs are not far behind, all losing over 4% for the week. Meanwhile, the German ETF (EWG ) saw the lowest loss of 0.37% for the week. Over the rolling month, all foreign equities are in the green, with the Japanese ETF (EWJ ) in the lead at a 9.27% gain.
Commodities Review
All major commodities have continued to perform poorly this week. Natural gas (UNG ) is the outlier of the bunch, with huge losses of 10.67% for the week and 19.97% over the rolling month. The only commodity ETF that rallied for the week is Oil (USO ), which is up 2.81%. The precious metals silver (SLV ) and gold (GLD ) were up over the rolling month at gains of 7.28% and 2.75%, respectively.
Currency Review
The U.S. dollar (UUP ) is gaining strength yet again and is the “best” performer for the week with a gain of 0.48%. The Aussie (FXA ) is the “worst” performer for the week, with a loss of 1.95%. The Euro is down significantly over the rolling month, with a 1.96% decline, which is the biggest loss out of the bunch. Although Wisdomtree emerging currency fund (CEW ) is down for the week, it still continues to be the top performer for the trailing one-month period with a gain of 2.61%.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
