Weekly Market Update - March 15, 2013
Domestic stock prices continued to establish new highs this week. Stock prices marched higher again this week, as the Dow Jones Industrials set its eighth record high in a row yesterday. The S&P 500 came to within two points of its alltime closing high during the week. Today’s disappointing consumer sentiment data could not take the luster off of the recent gains. Global markets also moved ahead on the week. World markets also gained ground once again this week, with developed markets outpacing emerging markets. Many European markets established five‐year highs this week, and U.K. stocks posted gains for the fifth straight week. German and Swiss markets also posted multi‐year highs.
Treasury prices posted slight gains this week. Yields on the benchmark 10‐year Treasury declined modestly this week, with traders encouraged that inflation remained contained enough for the Fed to continue its bond‐buying program.
Commodity indexes were sharply higher this week. All three of the major complexes – energy, precious metals and grains – advanced strongly due to hints that inflation is rising. Gold advanced for the second week in a row as investors sought an inflation hedge.
| MARKET UPDATE DASHBOARD | ||||
| Index |
Price |
Weekly Chg. |
% Chg. |
YTD % Chg. |
| S&P 500 |
1,560.34 |
8.44 |
0.5% |
9.4% |
| Dow Industrials |
14,513.03 |
99.40 |
0.7% |
10.6% |
| Nasdaq Composite |
3,249.07 |
4.13 |
0.1% |
7.6% |
| Russell 2000 |
952.44 |
9.13 |
1.1% |
12.2% |
| Euro Stoxx Index |
297.44 |
1.66 |
0.6% |
6.3% |
| Shanghai Composite |
2,278.40 |
-40.21 |
-1.7% |
0.4% |
| 10-Year U.S. Treasury |
2.00 |
-5 bps |
NM |
2 bps |
| DJ UBS Commodity Index |
138.37 |
1.49 |
1.1% |
-0.2% |
| Gold |
$1,591.60 |
$17.17 |
1.1% |
-4.7% |
| Crude Oil |
$93.48 |
$1.50 |
1.6% |
0.8% |
| U.S. Dollar Index |
82.23 |
-0.47 |
-0.6% |
3.1% |
| VIX Index |
11.47 |
-1.09 |
-8.7% |
-36.2% |
| Source: Bloomberg | ||||
| As of March 15, 2013 | ||||