Weekly Commentary for the week of January 29, 2018

The Markets

Positive earnings reports and ongoing dollar weakness led to record closings for the three major indexes, which all closed their best four-week run since 2016. For the week, the Dow rose 2.09 percent to close at 26,616.71. The S&P gained 2.23 percent to finish at 2,872.87, and the NASDAQ climbed 2.31 percent to end the week at 7,505.77.

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.

Bull Market Stats — Since bottoming on March 9, 2009 (just short of nine years ago), the S&P 500 has gained 401 percent (total return), an annualized 19.9 percent per year, and produced 198 all-time record closing highs. The most recent record close was on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018 (source: BTN Research).

Fewer College Students — There were 18.8 million college students during the fall of 2017 (both undergraduate and graduate students), the sixth consecutive year (2012-2017) that the total number of students declined on a year-over-year basis (source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, BTN Research).

Missing Out — Forty-six percent of Americans have no money invested in stocks today, either through the ownership of individual stocks, equity mutual funds or holdings inside a pretax retirement plan (source: Gallup, 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 2018. All rights reserved. Securities offered through Securities America, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. SAI# 2009050.1