Market Commentary for the week of January 23, 2017

The Markets

For the first time in over 50 years, the stock market rose on the first day of a new presidency. Wall Street made a modest but broad advance as Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45^th president of the United States. For the week, the Dow fell 0.24 percent to close at 19,827.25. The S&P lost 0.13 percent to finish at 2,271.31, and the NASDAQ dropped 0.34 percent to end the week at 5,555.33.

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.

Own a Lot — The federal government owns 28 percent of all land in the United States, including 85 percent of Nevada and 65 percent of Utah (source: Congressional Research Service, BTN Research).

Slow Going — If GDP growth for 2016 being reported on Friday, Jan. 27, is less than 3 percent, it will be a record 11th consecutive year of sub 3 percent growth. The next longest streak in U.S. history of sub 3 percent growth was the four years from 1930-1933 (source: Commerce Department, BTN Research).

Campaign Rhetoric? — The U.S. economy began its 91st month of growth this week, an expansion exceeded in length only three times since 1900. President-elect Trump predicted on April 2, 2016, the United States is on course for a massive recession because the country is sitting on an economic bubble (source: Reuters, 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 January 2017. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI# 1689973.1