Market Commentary for the week of September 11, 2017

The Markets

Amid concerns over North Korea’s actions, impending Hurricane Irma and news of the data breach at Equifax, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ closed lower, while the Dow edged up. After two weeks of gains, all three major indexes were down for the week. For the week, the Dow fell 0.82 percent to close at 21,797.79 The S&P lost 0.58 percent to finish at 2,461.43, and the NASDAQ dropped 1.17 percent to end the week at 6,360.19.

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.

Cut in Half — The percentage of delinquent home mortgage loans (defined as being at least one monthly payment late but not including loans in the foreclosure process) was 8.44 percent at the end of the second quarter 2011. That number had fallen to 4.24 percent as of the end of the second quarter 2017 (source: MBA, BTN Research).

Chasing Last Year’s Winners — An equal dollar investment made at the end of the day on Dec. 31, 2016, in the 10 best performing individual stocks within the S&P 500 from calendar year 2016 was up 8.4 percent YTD through Aug. 31, 2017 (source: BTN Research).

Betting on Last Year’s Worst — An equal dollar investment made at the end of the day on Dec. 31, 2016, in the 10 worst performing individual stocks within the S&P 500 from calendar year 2016 was up 16 percent YTD through Aug. 31, 2017 (source: 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 September 2017. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI#1892834.1