News
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. The weekly performance is from last Friday’s open to this week’s Thursday close.
- U.S. markets are flat for the week.
- Most major foreign markets, including developed and emerging markets, are performing poorly this week.
- Non-farm employment change reported on Friday was better than expected at 211,000 new jobs vs. the expected 201,000. However, the unemployment claims reported this Thursday showed a worsening picture as the figure is worse than expected at 282,000 vs. the consensus of 266,000.
- Only one week left until the Fed decision regarding the future of interest rates. The current market sentiment is that rates will rise. To find out the outlook and ways to play, read Place Your Fed Rate Hike Bets, Again.
- During last Friday’s meetings, OPEC countries said they will maintain high production of crude oil. Even though oil supply in the markets is high, these countries are producing about 1 to 2 million bpd above their 30 million bpd ceilings. This news sent oil prices down to levels not seen in seven years.
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Risk Appetite Review
- The overall U.S. market as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) was slightly down at a 0.10% decrease.
- The low volatility ETF (SPLV ) is the only one in the green, with a 0.05% gain.
- The high-beta ETF (SPHB ) is the worst performer, with a significant decline of 2.50% for the week.
Major Index Review
- Most major indexes are down for the week. The exceptions are the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ ) and Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA ), which are up 0.50% and 0.36%, respectively.
- The Emerging Markets ETF (EEM ) continues to be the worst performer for the week and the rolling month, with a 2.73% and 5.28% loss, respectively.
- The Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ ) is the only one in the green for the rolling month, with a gain of 0.38%.
Foreign Equity Review
- All major foreign equity ETFs are down for the week, especially the BRIC countries.
- The only foreign equity ETF up for the rolling month is the German ETF (EWG ), with a gain of 0.46%.
- The Russian ETF (RSX ) continues its down trend and is the worst performer for the week and rolling month, with a 4.12% and 8.51% loss, respectively.
Commodities Review
- All commodities continue trending down for the week and rolling month.
- The agriculture ETF (DBA ) is the only commodity that increased for the rolling month, with a gain of 0.68%.
- Oil (USO ) and gas (UNG ) were hit hard this week, with losses of 8.67% and 8.31% for the week, respectively. This is because of the OPEC countries’ decision to maintain high crude oil production going forward.
- Gas (UNG ) is the worst performing commodity for the rolling month, with a huge loss of 20.91%.
Currency Review
- The U.S. dollar (UUP ) rally is slowing since this ETF is down 0.27% and 1.70% for the week and rolling month, respectively. It was the worst performing major currency ETF for the rolling month.
- The emerging markets currencies ETF (CEW ) was hit hard this week, with a loss of 1.58%.
- The Japanese yen (FXY ) is the best performer for the week, with a gain of 1.19%.
- The Australian dollar (FXA ) is up the most for the rolling month, with a huge gain of 3.48%.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
