Market Commentary for the week of February 6, 2017

The Markets

A positive jobs report and President Trump’s deregulation action helped U.S. stocks climb Friday. The president signed an executive order to scale back regulations in the financial industry. The Labor Department reported 227,000 new public and private sector jobs were created last month, compared to the 175,000 economists had expected. For the week, the Dow fell 0.09 percent to close at 20,071.46. The S&P rose 0.16 percent to finish at 2,297.42, and the NASDAQ gained 0.11 percent to end the week at 5,666.77.

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.

Ambitious Goal — On Monday, Jan. 23, President Trump said his administration will lead the effort to cut at least 75 percent of the business regulations imposed by government agencies (source: White House, BTN Research).

They’re Catching Up — China’s economy expanded by 6.7 percent in 2016, its smallest growth rate in 26 years (since 1990). The U.S. economy grew by 1.6 percent in 2016 and has grown by at least 6.7 percent just twice in the past 60 years, i.e., 6.9 percent in 1959 and 7.3 percent in 1984 (source: Commerce Department, BTN Research).

Oil Prices Going Up — The price of oil closed at $45.23 a barrel on Nov. 29, 2016, the day before OPEC agreed to its first production cut in eight years. Two months later, oil closed at $53.20 a barrel on Friday, Jan. 27, up 18 percent  (source: NYMEX, 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# 1703129.1