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 Thursday’s close.
- U.S. markets are down for the week with small-cap stocks falling the most.
- Most major foreign markets, including developed and emerging markets, are down for the week.
- Friday’s strong jobs report showed that U.S. non-farm payrolls jumped 292,000 in December, which was 92,000 above consensus estimates.
- Mortgage applications came in higher than expected, thanks to a strong jobs market and low rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly report. Purchase applications increased 18% for the January 8 week as refinancing applications grew 24%.
- The Baker Hughes Rig Count released Friday showed U.S. rigs down by another 34, a sign of continued contraction in the oil and gas industry.
- China’s consumer price index rose by 1.6% in December, missing forecasts of a 1.7% increase. Fears of deflationary pressure in China are contributing to its stock market decline.
- Released Friday, German monthly industrial production declined 0.3%. The figure widely missed consensus estimates of a 0.4% increase.
Risk Appetite Review
- The overall market as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) was slightly down by 1.67% for the week.
- The high-beta ETF (SPHB ) was the worst performer in the group with a 5.72% loss for the week.
- The low-volatility ETF (SPLV ) is down the least with a decline of 1.20% for the week.
Major Index Review
- All major indexes were down for the week and rolling month.
- The Russell 2000 ETF (IWM ) is the worst performer for the week and the rolling month with a 3.87% and 9.03% loss, respectively.
- The iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA ) was the best performer for the week with a 1.2% loss.
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY ) was the best performer for the rolling month with a 5.02% loss.
Foreign Equity Review
- All major foreign tracking ETFs are down for the week.
- The only ETF that is in the green for the rolling month is the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI ) with a gain of 0.64%.
- The iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI ) is the worst performer for the week with a 3.1% loss.
- The Brazil ETF (EWZ ) was the worst performer for the rolling month with a loss of 14.73%.
Commodities Review
- All commodities are down for the week.
- The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG ) is the worst performer for the week with a 10.86% loss, but it is the best performer for the rolling month, up 7.71%.
- The United States Oil Fund (USO ) is the worst performer for the rolling month, down 15.86%.
Currency Review
- The U.S. dollar (UUP ) is up slightly for the week and is the best performer with a gain of 0.47%.
- The Japanese yen (FXY ) is the best performer for the rolling month with a gain of 2.29%.
- The worst performer for the rolling month is the British pound (FXB ), which is down 4.87%. It was also the worst performer for the rolling week, down 1.11%.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
