Market Commentary for the week of December 27, 2016

Wall Street rose Friday as the post-election rally continued. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its seventh straight weekly gain. For the week, the Dow rose 0.46 percent to close at 19,933.81. The S&P gained 0.30 percent to finish at 2,263.79, and the NASDAQ climbed 0.47 percent to end the week at 5,462.69.

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.

Just a Couple Left — In 1980, the rating agency S&P awarded 60 companies a AAA rating. That fell to 30 by 1995, then to six in 2008 and down to just two top-rated companies as of last week (source: S&P, BTN Research).

Taxes Paid — The top 5 percent of U.S. taxpayers paid more in federal income taxes ($721 billion) than the bottom 95 percent of U.S. taxpayers ($511 billion) for the 2013 tax year (source: IRS, BTN Research).

Can’t Wait — The normal retirement age (NRA) in 2017 to be eligible for full Social Security benefits is 66 years. Fifty-seven percent of men and 64 percent of women take their benefits before reaching NRA (source: LIMRA, BTN Research).

* 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 2016. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI# 1670325