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 in the red for the week.
- Most major foreign markets, including developed and emerging markets, are down for the week.
- During the FOMC press conference on Wednesday, no change to interest rates was made.
- Inflation slowed, as reported on Thursday. The month-over-month CPI change has been 0.2%, instead of the expected 0.3%.
- Core retail sales growth was inline with expectations, at 0.4% as reported on Tuesday.
- The Philly Fed Manufacturing Index was better than expected, as reported Thursday. The index reading is well above zero, at 4.7 vs. the consensus of 0.8. This is great news for manufacturing and U.S. economic health.
- Housing starts reported this morning are showing a positive trend. The number of housing starts is 1.164 million vs. the expected 1.150 million. Housing permit numbers, on the other hand, are showing signs of weakness. The number of housing permits is 1.138 million vs. the expected 1.140 million. This may not seem significantly lower than expected but the year-on-year rate remains negative at -10.1%.
- The EU referendum on the possibility of a Brexit is coming up on June 23. As of right now, the polls are showing a 10-point swing towards Brexit. This has developed markets concerned and is a major reason why U.K. markets are down.
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Risk Appetite Review
- The overall market as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) was down this week by 0.99%
- The equal weight ETF (SPHB ) was the worst performer of the bunch, with a 3.89% loss for the week.
- The high-beta ETF (SPLV ) is down the least, with a decline of 0.29% for the week.
Major Index Review
- All major indexes are down for the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA ) is down the least with a 0.69% decrease.
- The iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA ) is the worst performer for the week and the rolling month, with a 2.98% and 2.86% loss, respectively.
- The Russell 2000 ETF (IWM ) is the best performer for the rolling month, with a 3.31% gain.
Foreign Equity Review
- All major foreign tracking ETFs are down for the week, while the India tracking ETF (EPI ) is down the least with a 0.70% decrease.
- The Russian ETF (RSX ) is the worst performer for the week with a 3.89% loss.
- The best-performing ETF for the rolling month is China (FXI ) with a gain of 3.65%.
- The worst performer for the rolling month is the U.K. ETF (EWU ), which is down 4.02%. This is due to the Brexit fears. To find out more, read our trends article where the United Kingdom was one of the major trends this week.
Commodities Review
- All commodities are down for the week, with the exception being gold (GLD ) and copper, (JJC ) which are up 0.68% and 1.38%, respectively. Gold rallied after the FOMC announcement of keeping the rates unchanged.
- Oil (USO ) is the worst performer for the week and rolling month, with a loss of 7.32% and 5.19%, respectively.
- The best performer for the rolling month is gas (UNG ) with a gain of 16.29%.
Currency Review
- The U.S. dollar (UUP ) is up for the week, with a gain of 0.41%.
- The best performer for the week and rolling month is the Japanese yen (FXY ) with an increase of 2.32% and 4.51%, respectively.
- The worst performer for the week and rolling month is the British pound (FXB ), which is down 1.18% and 1.78% respectively. Again, this is due to the Brexit fears.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
