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 were all up this week, with one exception. The Bank of Japan disappointed markets on Friday by announcing a smaller-than-expected increase in monetary stimulus. The yen surged after the BoJ said it will boost ETF purchases by $26 billion a year, citing Brexit concerns. Two days ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a 28 trillion yen fiscal stimulus package in order to shore up confidence and achieve targeted inflation. Last weekend, at the G20 meeting, policymakers said in unison they were prepared to deploy all policy tools to withstand the negative impact on the global economy stemming from Britain’s exit from the E.U. In the U.S., consumer confidence and new home sales were substantially higher than forecasted: 97.3 versus estimated 95.6 for consumer confidence, and 592,000 against 562,000 forecast for the number of new homes sold during the previous month. The continued good data prompted the Federal Reserve to strike an optimistic tone at its meeting this Wednesday. However, that was not enough to determine policymakers to act, and they left interest rates unchanged. Crude oil inventories increased by 1.7 million barrels this week versus an expected drop of 2.1 million, prompting a slide in oil prices.
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Risk Appetite Review
The broad market is slightly up this week, with the S&P 500 (SPY A) rising 0.17%. Low Volatility ETF (SPLV A) was down 0.30% since last Thursday. The Equal Weight ETF (RSP B+) had the best performance of all, jumping 0.41%.
Major Index Review
All major indexes have jumped slightly this week, with the exception of Dow Jones. Nasdaq 100 (QQQ A-) has shot up 1.50% this week and an impressive 11.27% for the rolling month, representing the best performance of all indexes for either periods. The technology index has benefitted from better-than-expected financial results announced recently by Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), and Facebook (FB). Dow Jones (DIA A-) has posted the worst performance for the week, falling 0.34%, as many of the blue-chip traditional companies struggle to keep pace with the earnings of technology firms. For the rolling month, the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA A) is again the worst performer, with a 6.50% gain. The fund — heavily exposed to Japan and Europe — grapples with weak underlying fundamentals.