Market Commentary for the week of December 10, 2018

The Markets

The three major indexes dropped sharply on the final day of a turbulent week on Wall Street. Renewed concern over U.S. – China trade relations offset a Labor Department report showing healthy job gains last month and the fastest wage growth in nearly ten years. For the week, the Dow fell 4.44 percent to finish at 24,388.95. The S&P dropped 4.55 percent to finish at 2,633.08, and the NASDAQ lost 4.92 percent to end the week at 6,969.25.

Source: Morningstar.com. *Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Three- and five-year returns are annualized. The Dow Jones Industrials, MSCI EAFE, Barclays US Agg Bond and S&P, excluding “1 Week” returns, are based on total return, which is a reflection of return to an investor by reinvesting dividends after the deduction of withholding tax. The NASDAQ is based on price return, which is the capital appreciation of the portfolio, excluding income generated by the assets in the portfolio in the form of interest and dividends. (TR) indicates total return. (PR) indicates price return. MSCI EAFE returns stated in U.S. dollars.

Through November — The S&P 500 had gained 5.1 percent YTD (total return) as of Friday, Nov. 30, half the index’s average return of 10.1 percent per year over the last 50 years (source: BTN Research).

Winners From Last Year — An equal investment at the end of 2017 into the 10 stocks in the S&P 500 that gained at least 80 percent last year was down a collective 1.1 percent YTD as of Friday, Nov. 30 (source: BTN Research).

My House, My Piggy Bank — Cash-out refis – a homeowner taking out a new mortgage larger than their previous mortgage and pocketing the difference – peaked in 2006 when American homeowners pulled out $320 billion of home equity during a rising housing market. Homeowners pulled out just $15 billion of their home equity through cash-out refis in the third quarter of 2018 (source: Freddie Mac, BTN Research).

WEEKLY FOCUS – Reduce Unwanted Intrusions

Fed up with robocalls or calls from businesses claiming you won a luxurious vacation? Tired of your mailbox filled with junk mail and your inbox full of spam? Good news! You can reduce the volume of calls, mail and email you receive with just a little effort and time.

If your phone is ringing off the hook with robocalls, you’re not alone. April 2018 saw 3.4 billion robocalls, according to the New York Times¹. Here are a few tips to curb robocalls and other nuisance calls and avoid phone scams:

Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. Let them go to voicemail to prevent robocalls from registering your phone number as a viable contact. Never give out personal information, such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, your mother's maiden name, passwords or other identifying information. To reduce unwanted calls from legitimate telemarketers, register your number on the U.S. government’s Do Not Call List at www.donotcall.gov. To block scammers, use your iPhone and Android phone’s built-in features. Third-party apps, such as Nomorobo and Hiya Caller ID, block unsolicited calls and text messages.

Like the government’s Do Not Call registry, the Direct Marketing Association maintains a “do not mail” list, the Mail Preference Service. Putting your name on the list will keep DMA members from physically mailing unsolicited marketing content for five years.

Snail mail, especially offers from financial institutions and credit cards, can cost you financially if thieves steal your personal information and open new accounts in your name. To stop credit card offers and more, visit the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry at OptOutPrescreen.com.²

Email spam is another clutter culprit. Here are two tactics to reduce unwanted email. Mark them as spam before deleting. This is how automatic spam filters learn to identify spam and filter it out. Never publish your email address online. Spammers use tools to scrape the web to compile lists of email addresses. For more steps to limit spam, visit: www.consumer.ftc.gov.

¹https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/06/your-money/robocalls-rise-illegal.html

²https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/opt-out-prescreened-offers-id-theft-risk-1294.php>

* The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. The Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australia and Far East Index (MSCI EAFE Index) is a widely recognized benchmark of non-U.S. stock markets. It is an unmanaged index composed of a sample of companies representative of the market structure of 20 European and Pacific Basin countries and includes reinvestment of all dividends. Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged index comprised of U.S. investment-grade, fixed-rate bond market securities, including government, government agency, corporate and mortgage-backed securities between one and 10 years. Written by Securities America, Copyright December 2018. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI#2343855.1