Market Commentary for the week of May 1, 2017

The Markets

Stocks slipped Friday following a first quarter report that showed the U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in three years. Major indexes still managed to close up for the month, giving the Nasdaq its six consecutive month of growth. For the week, the Dow rose 1.91 percent to close at 20,940.51. The S&P gained 1.53 percent to finish at 2,384.20, and the NASDAQ climbed 2.32 percent to end the week at 6,047.61.

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.

One Bad, One Dismal — The debt-to-economy ratio for Greece is 167 percent (i.e., $326 billion of debt stated as a percentage of the $195 billion Greek economy). The debt-to-economy ratio for the U.S. is 105 percent, i.e., $19.846 trillion of debt stated as a percentage of the $18.8694 trillion American economy (source: Commerce Department, BTN Research).

Where the Money Comes From — Property taxes represent 31.3 percent of the total tax revenue collected by states; greater than the 23.3 percent of tax revenue collected from sales taxes and the 22.9 percent of tax revenue that comes from individual state income taxes (source: Tax Foundation, BTN Research).

Better After Seven Years — As of Friday, April 21, only three banks in the United States had failed in 2017. On April 21, 2010, 50 banks had failed. Just five banks failed during calendar year 2016 (source: FDIC, 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 May 2017. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI# 1785035.1