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.
- Global markets are up for the week, largely recovering from a brutal sell-off following Britain’s decision to leave the E.U.
- U.S. markets are up for the week.
- Most European markets, including Britain, have risen this week.
- Europe is putting pressure on Britain to leave the trading bloc as soon as possible in order to remove uncertainty, but the country’s politicians signaled they wanted to take their time.
- The U.S. consumer confidence of 98 beats expectations of 93.2 for the month of June, while GDP for the first quarter was revised up to 1.1% from 1% previously.
- Boris Johnson, a campaigner for Brexit and a favorite to succeed Cameron, announced he will not run for prime minister, delivering further political uncertainty for Britain. Home Secretary Theresa May now has the upper hand on the top spot, but Justice Secretary Michael Gove, who favored Brexit, will also run.
- Amid political turmoil, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, strongly hinted at a rate cut or other stimulus measures; markets cheered the news.
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Risk Appetite Review
- The broad market is up this week, as shown by the 2.87% increase of S&P 500 ETF (SPY ).
- The biggest gains, however, were registered by the Low Volatility ETF (SPLV ), which was up 5.16% since last Thursday.
- The high beta ETF (SPHB ) has had the worst performance of the bunch, jumping 1.66% for the week.
Major Index Review
- All major indexes are in the green this week, as the Brexit fallout proved short-lived.
- The iShares Emerging Markets (EEM ) has posted the best performance of the group for the week, as well as for the rolling month. It has risen 4.89% since last Thursday and is up 3.62% for the rolling month.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA ) is the worst performer for the week, with a 2.55% gain.
- The worst performer for the rolling month is iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA ), down 5.23%.
Foreign Equity Review
- All major foreign ETFs are up for the week, as speculations mount that central banks would launch new stimulus measures.
- The best performer for the week and for the month is iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF (EWZ ), up 9.09% and 16.82%, respectively.
- The Japanese iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ ) posted the worst performance for the week, gaining 1.81%.
- For the rolling month, however, Germany’s iShares MSCI Germany Fund ETF (EWG ) is the worst performer with a 7.96% drop.
Commodities Review
- All commodities have risen this week, except for gold, which has fallen slightly.
- Natural gas (UNG ) is the best performer for the week and for the rolling month. It has risen 8.27% since last Thursday, extending monthly gains to 27.06%.
- Oil (USO ) is the worst performer for the rolling month, losing 3.42%.
Currency Review
- Currencies have posted mixed performance for the week and rolling month.
- No surprise here: the British pound (FXB ) is the worst performer for the week and for the rolling month, down 2.94% and 9.03%, respectively.
- Emerging markets currencies (CEW ) have posted the best performance for the week, rising 1.72%.
- For the rolling month, the Japanese yen (FXY ) is the best performer with a 7.50% gain.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
