ETF Scorecard: April 15 Edition

• U.S. markets are rallying this week.

• Most major foreign markets, including developed and emerging markets, are up for the week.

• The Fed has held an unexpected meeting under “Expedited Procedures” on Monday to discuss interest rates. The last time such a closed meeting occurred, on November 21, 2015, was right before the first rate hike in nearly a decade.

• Month-over-month retail sales were worse than expected as reported on Wednesday. Retail sales decreased by 0.3% versus the expected increase of 0.1%. Core retail sales were also worse than expected at a month-over-month increase of 0.2% versus the consensus of 0.4%.

• The month-over-month CPI increase reported on Thursday was worse than expected at 0.1% versus the expected 0.2% increase. Core CPI showed the same percentages.

• At 10 a.m. today, the consumer sentiment report was released, showing a worse-than-expected figure of 89.7. The number was expected to come in at 91.8.

• BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda spoke on Monday and reiterated that BoJ will add more stimulus if necessary to bring inflation back to 2%.

• The meeting to discuss an oil production freeze in Doha is coming up this Sunday. The OPEC countries include Iraq, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Iran and Venezuela. The non-OPEC countries include Russia and Oman. This meeting will determine the future of oil production and prices. Markets are cautious ahead of the meeting as evidenced by the decrease in the equity markets and oil prices today.

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• The overall market as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY A) was up 1.30% this week.

• The high-beta ETF (SPHB B+) is by far the best performer with an increase of 5.21% for the week.

• The low-volatility ETF (SPLV A+) is the worst performer with an increase of 0.10% for the week.

• All major indexes are in the green for the week and rolling month.

• The Emerging Markets ETF (EEM A-) was the best performer for the week and the rolling month, with a 3.70% and 5.27% gain, respectively.

• The PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ B+), which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, is the worst performer for the week, with a 1.05% gain.

• For the rolling month, the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA A) is the worst performer with a gain of 2.08%.

• All major foreign tracking ETFs are doing well this week and rolling month.

• Brazil (EWZ A-) is the outlier in the group, up 9.72% for the week and 10.15% for the rolling month.

• Germany (EWG B) is the worst performer for the week with the smallest increase of 2.91%.

• For the rolling month, the worst performer is the U.K. tracking ETF (EWU A-), which is up 2.36%.

• Commodities are showing mixed performance results.

• Silver (SLV B-) is in the spotlight this week with a 5.72% gain.

• Natural gas (UNG B-) is down 2.05% this week; it is the worst-performing major commodity.

• Although oil (USO B) is down as well today, it’s the best-performing commodity for the rolling month with a 5.65% gain as of Thursday’s close.

• Copper (JJC A) is the worst performer for the rolling one month with a loss of 3.73%.

• The U.S. dollar (UUP A) is showing some strength this week with a 0.65% gain. However, it was the worst performer for the rolling month out of the bunch with a 1.68% loss.

• The Australian dollar (FXA B) is the best performer for the week with a gain of 1.85%. This is mainly due to the improving employment figures this week. 26,100 jobs were added last month in Australia versus the expected figure of 18,600. Furthermore, the unemployment rate decreased to 5.7% versus the expected 5.9%.

• The worst performer for the week is the euro (FXE B), which is down 1.19%.

• The yen (FXY B) is seen as a safe haven by many investors, which is why it’s the best performer and is up 3.78% for the rolling month.

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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.