Weekly Market Update - February 22, 2013

Domestic stock prices consolidated this week. Stock prices ended the week lower after Wednesday’s release of the minutes of the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which indicated that some committee members are in favor of scaling back the Fed’s monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage‐backed securities. Investors fear economic growth would slow if the Fed curtailed its program. Global markets also lost ground for the week. World markets declined in sympathy with domestic stocks after the release of the FOMC minutes. European markets also declined on forecasts of economic contraction in 2013. Asian markets were soft on investor fears of additional property curbs due to a continuing rise in home prices.

Treasury prices rose modestly this week. Yields on the benchmark 10‐year Treasury declined slightly for the week. The FOMC minutes were the driver in this market as well, as traders anticipate a slowdown in economic growth as the Fed’s securities purchases wind down.

Commodity indexes plunged on the week. Crude oil slumped on an increase in inventories. Gold declined as the dollar rose as a result of economic growth concerns after release of the FOMC minutes.

MARKET DASHBOARD
Index	Price	Weekly Chg.	% Chg.	YTD % Chg.
S&P 500	1,514.54	-5.31	-0.3%	6.2 %
Dow Industrials	14,000.57	18.81	0.1%	6.8%
Nasdaq Composite	3,161.82	-30.21	-0.9%	4.7%
Russell 2000	916.15	-7.00	-0.8%	7.9%
Euro Stoxx Index	288.57	1.23	0.4%	3.2%
Shanghai Composite	2,314.16	-118.24	-4.9%	2.0%
10-Year U.S. Treasury	1.97	-4  bps	NM	2 bps
DJ UBS Commodity Index	136.69	-2.51	-1.8%	-1.7%
Gold	$1,580.02	-$30.40	-1.9%	-5.7%
Crude Oil	$93.43	-$3.00	-3.1%	0.7%
U.S. Dollar Index	81.44	0.86	1.1%	2.1%
VIX Index	14.33	1.90	15.2%	-20.3%
Source: Bloomberg
As of February 22, 2013