As of February 5, 2010
 
n It was another poor weak in the global equity markets, as anxiety over the global economy and European credit woes continued to weigh heavily on investors. Stocks in Europe posted their biggest weekly decline in 11 months, and Asia-Pacific was also down sharply across markets.  In the U.S., equities were headed for another brutal week before a late-Friday buying spree cut the period’s losses to more respectable levels. Treasuries rallied, as investors sought safe haven in U.S. government debt.
 
n The euro hit its lowest level against the dollar since May 2009, as concerns about sovereign debt — particularly that of Greece, Spain and Portugal — continued to put pressure on the currency.
 
n On the employment front, non-farm payrolls declined slightly in January. However, the unemployment rate, which is calculated from the distinct household survey, unexpectedly fell, to 9.7% from 10.0%. Meanwhile, revisions to the employment data for the last two years showed that job losses were more extreme during the recession than previously reported.
 
n Pending home sales rose in line with forecasts in December following a sharp drop in January. While the homebuyer tax credit and its new expiration date are likely to cause timing distortions in this data over the next several months, the underlying trend in home sales appears to be upward.
 
n U.S. retailers got off to a strong start in 2010, with the sector reporting a 3.3% increase in same-store sales, the fifth consecutive monthly increase after a long period of decline. That said, January is considered relatively unimportant to retailers given the month’s focus on clearance sales and gift card redemption.
 
n Senate Banking Committee Chairman Dodd warned that Obama’s proposals to limit the activity of Wall Street banks — the “Volker Rule” — may be overly ambitious and end up derailing regulatory reform.
 
n Consumer prices in Brazil rose to a 20-month high, leading some observers to suggest that policymakers will raise interest rates as early as next month in an effort to rein in Latin America’s biggest economy. Brazil’s Bovespa stock index, meanwhile, has lost 11% over the past month, denoting a correction.
 
  
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
Source: FactSet, Bloomberg
 
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Index Definitions
 
Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Bond Index measures a wide range of global government, government-related, corporate and securitized fixed-income investments, all with maturities greater than one year.
 
Barclays Capital High-Yield Bond Index tracks the performance of below investment grade U.S. dollar-denominated corporate bonds publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market.
 
Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index is a bond market index composed of US securities in Treasury, Government-Related, Corporate, and Securitized sectors that are of investment-grade quality or better, have at least one year to maturity, and have an outstanding par value of at least $250 million.
 
Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average computed from the stock prices of 30 of the largest and most widely held public companies in the United States, adjusted to reflect stock splits and stock dividends.
 
FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index represents general performance trends of the equity securities of real estate companies involved in the ownership, disposition and development of income-producing properties worldwide.
 
JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus (EMBI+) tracks total returns for traded foreign currency denominated debt instruments in the emerging markets which meet minimum criteria for face value outstanding and market trading liquidity.
 
MSCI EAFE Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to measure developed markets’ equity performance, excluding the US & Canada, for 21 countries.
 
MSCI Europe ex-U.K. Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to measure equity performance of the 15 developed European markets except the United Kingdom.
 
MSCI U.K. Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to measure equity performance of listed common stocks in the United Kingdom.
 
MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to measure equity performance of the 15 developed Asian markets except Japan.
 
MSCI Japan Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to measure equity performance of listed common stocks in Japan.
 
MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that measures emerging market equity performance of 22 countries.
 
Municipal Bond Index is a bond index that includes investment-grade, tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds with long-term maturities (greater than two years) selected from issues larger than $50 million.
 
NASDAQ Composite Index is a market capitalization weighted index of the performance of domestic and international common stocks listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market including over 2,800 securities.
 
Russell 1000 Growth Index measures the large-cap growth segment of the U.S. equity market including Russell 1000 companies with higher price-to-book ratios and forecasted growth.
 
Russell 1000 Value Index measures the large-cap value segment of the U.S. equity market including Russell 1000 companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower expected growth.
 
Russell Midcap Growth Index measures the performance of the mid-cap growth segment of the U.S. equity market including Russell Midcap Index companies with higher price-to-book ratios and forecasted growth.
 
Russell Midcap Value Index measures the performance of the mid-cap growth segment of the U.S. equity market including Russell Midcap Index companies with lower price-to-book ratios and forecasted growth.
 
Russell 2000 Growth Index measures the performance of small-cap growth stocks in the U.S. equity market including Russell 2000 companies with higher price-to-value ratios and forecasted growth.
 
Russell 2000 Value Index measures the performance of small-cap growth stocks in the U.S. equity market including Russell 2000 companies with lower price-to-value ratios and forecasted growth.
 
S&P 500 Index is a widely regarded as the best single gauge of the U.S. equities market, including 500 leading companies in major industries of the U.S. economy.
 
S&P 500 Sectors are defined as the GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) sectors which provide standardized industry definitions consisting of 10 sectors, 24 industry groups, and 68 industries.
 
 
 
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