Taking a bit of a breather this week, the Dow dipped back below the 29,000 level while the S&P 500 fell below 3,300 closing Friday at 3295. Fears of the coronavirus was causal in the U.S. Treasury note interest rate dropping to 1.68%, its lowest level since the beginning of November. However, earnings season continues to provide a strong backbone to the mix. From a technical perspective, the Bollinger Band Index (BBI) remains in neutral territory but we are seeing market indices taking that aforementioned “breather”. For TSP TIPS, we will take more of a defensive posture and take a position in the F bond fund for the first time in four months. Bond prices and interest rates have an inverse relationship so when interest rates drop, the bond price increases. Lastly, we’d like to remind you that if you have an IRA or 401K plan, you can apply TSP TIPS to those accounts by finding the corresponding index fund to that of the TSP. For instance, the C fund mirrors the S&P 500 and there usually is a 401K fund that does the same.
Taking a bit of a breather this week, the Dow dipped back below the 29,000 level while the S&P 500 fell below 3,300 closing Friday at 3295. Fears of the coronavirus was causal in the U.S. Treasury note interest rate dropping to 1.68%, its lowest level since the beginning of November. However, earnings season continues to provide a strong backbone to the mix. From a technical perspective, the Bollinger Band Index (BBI) remains in neutral territory but we are seeing market indices taking that aforementioned “breather”. For TSP TIPS, we will take more of a defensive posture and take a position in the F bond fund for the first time in four months. Bond prices and interest rates have an inverse relationship so when interest rates drop, the bond price increases. Lastly, we’d like to remind you that if you have an IRA or 401K plan, you can apply TSP TIPS to those accounts by finding the corresponding index fund to that of the TSP. For instance, the C fund mirrors the S&P 500 and there usually is a 401K fund that does the same.