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.
- Domestic and foreign equities continue their rally this week.
- During the FOMC statement on Wednesday this week, the Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged and have signalled that only two rate hikes are likely this year. A revision from the previously expected four rate hikes.
- The Philly Fed Manufacturing Index figure released this week has indicated improving business conditions in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve district. The figure stood at 12.4 compared to the estimate of -1.4.
- Retail sales were in line with expectations at a -0.1% m/m change. Core retail sales m/m were slightly better than expected at -0.1% versus the consensus of -0.2%.
- Inflation was above expected levels as the core CPI m/m report released on Wednesday showed that core CPI has increased 0.3% compared to the expectation of 0.2%.
- Crude oil inventories rose 1.3 million barrels this week to a new record of 523.2 million. This was lower than the expected 2.9 million barrels.
- The Bank of Japan has left its monetary policies unchanged on Tuesday, but downgraded their global economic outlook.
- Another thing to keep in mind is that today is the first Quadruple Witching of 2016. This is when there’s more than the usual number of different types of options and futures that expire. This happens four times per year, on the third Friday in March, June, September, and December.
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Risk Appetite Review
- The overall market as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) is up 1.67% for the week.
- The worst performer for the week is the low-volatility ETF (SPLV ), which is up 1.66%.
- The high-beta ETF (SPHB ) is the best performer for the week, with a increase in value of 2.86%.
Major Index Review
- All major indexes are in the green for the week and rolling month.
- The emerging-markets ETF (EEM ) is the best performer for the week and the rolling month, with a 2.73% and 11.94% increase, respectively.
- The worst performer for the week is the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA ), with a gain of 1.28%.
- The technology-focused PowerShares QQQ (QQQ ) is the worst performer for the rolling month, with a gain of 6.44%.
Foreign Equity Review
- All major foreign tracking ETFs are up for the week and rolling month.
- The worst performer for the week and rolling month is the Japan ETF (EWJ ), which is up 0.35% and 5.90%, respectively.
Commodities Review
- Most commodities are up for the week and rolling month.
- The only exception to the commodity rally for the week is gold (GLD ), which is down 0.87%. Perhaps the rally experienced in the last two months has been overstated.
- Natural gas (UNG ) stands out in the bunch due to its impressive performance this week. The ETF is up 5.08% for the week.
- For the rolling month, natural gas (UNG ) is the worst performer at a loss of 2.01%.
- Oil (USO ) has seen its largest rally in a long time for the rolling month, with a gain of 25.15%.
Currency Review
- The U.S. dollar (UUP ) is the worst performer this week and rolling month, with a loss of 1.68% and 2.42%, respectively.
- The best performer for the week is the Japanese yen ETF (FXY ), up 2.02%.
- The Australian dollar (FXA ) is up the most for the rolling month, with an increase of 7.40%.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
