The S&P 500 was down more than one percent for the second week in a row closing at 4348 Friday. Throughout the week geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine continued to put pressure on market volatility. On Tuesday the producer price index increased 1% for the month, and 9.7% over the past 12 months, close to a record dating back to 2010. As a result, the 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.04%, but the S&P 500 bucked the trend and added on a 1.5% gain. After the Fed released their minutes on Wednesday afternoon, market talk once again turned to inflation/interest rate hikes. On Thursday the S&P 500 gave back over 2%, which carried over into Friday. From technical perspective, the S&P 500 is just above the 27 January support level of 4326, which is just above 10% correction territory at 4317. At the end of January, support held and maybe that will hold true again, but no one can predict the future. That said, a repeat of the December 2018 sell-off that was mentioned in last weeks update would not be pleasant. Next week the markets are closed on Monday, followed by a slew of economic data through Februarys close. For TSP TIPS, all the funds (C/S/I/F) have negative Performance Rankings, and all have their prices below their 200 day Moving Average. Based on the above S&P 500 support comments, expect a Mid-Week Reallocation should the S&P 500 close below those levels.
The S&P 500 was down more than one percent for the second week in a row closing at 4348 Friday. Throughout the week geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine continued to put pressure on market volatility. On Tuesday the producer price index increased 1% for the month, and 9.7% over the past 12 months, close to a record dating back to 2010. As a result, the 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.04%, but the S&P 500 bucked the trend and added on a 1.5% gain. After the Fed released their minutes on Wednesday afternoon, market talk once again turned to inflation/interest rate hikes. On Thursday the S&P 500 gave back over 2%, which carried over into Friday. From technical perspective, the S&P 500 is just above the 27 January support level of 4326, which is just above 10% correction territory at 4317. At the end of January, support held and maybe that will hold true again, but no one can predict the future. That said, a repeat of the December 2018 sell-off that was mentioned in last weeks update would not be pleasant. Next week the markets are closed on Monday, followed by a slew of economic data through Februarys close. For TSP TIPS, all the funds (C/S/I/F) have negative Performance Rankings, and all have their prices below their 200 day Moving Average. Based on the above S&P 500 support comments, expect a Mid-Week Reallocation should the S&P 500 close below those levels.