Market Commentary for the week of February 13, 2017

The Markets

Following President Trump’s promise to move quickly on tax code changes, the three major indexes booked fresh records. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq logged gains for the third week in a row. For the week, the Dow rose 1.13 percent to close at 20,269.37. The S&P gained 0.87 percent to finish at 2,316.10, and the NASDAQ climbed 1.19 percent to end the week at 5,734.13.

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.

Small Number, Big Dollars — National health care expenditures in the United States during calendar year 2016 were an estimated $3.4 trillion. Just 10 percent of Americans were the source of 65 percent of that total (source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Kaiser Family Foundation, BTN Research).

Ups and Downs — The S&P 500 has gained 10.2 percent per year (total return) over the last 50 years (1967-2016) in spite of suffering through eight bear markets of at least a 20 percent  decline each time (source: BTN Research).

Renters Soar — The 109.6 million households in the United States on Dec. 31, 2006, were split between 75.4 million owners and 34.2 million renters. The 118.6 million households in the United States on Dec. 31, 2016, were split between 75.6 million owners and 43 million renters (source: Census Bureau, 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 February 2017. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI# 1709474.1