“Peek of the Week”
Market Commentary
October 21, 2019
The Markets
Last week was like an overstuffed suitcase that busts open on the
baggage carousel. A lot was unpacked in a surprising and disorderly fashion.
There was some positive news for investors who prioritize fundamentals.
Third quarter’s earnings season – the period of time when companies let
investors know how they performed during the previous quarter – got off to a
strong start.
Fifteen percent of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index have
reported so far and 84 percent had earnings that beat analysts’ expectations. FactSet said better than expected
earnings from companies in the Healthcare and Financials sectors balanced the
weaker performance of companies in the Energy sector.
There was some negative economic news, too.
In the United States, retail sales declined in September. It was the
first monthly decline since February, reported MarketWatch, and analysts had expected an increase.
In China, gross domestic product growth was 6 percent year-over-year,
the slowest growth rate since the 1990s, reported Reuters.
On the geopolitical front, The
Wall Street Journal reported U.S. and European investors were cheered by
news that Britain and the European Union (EU) had reached an agreement under
which Britain could amicably exit the EU. That optimism was dashed on Saturday
when Parliament withheld approval of the deal until all supporting legislation
has been passed, reported The Washington
Post.
The world was also rocked by Turkey’s invasion of Syria.
At the end of the week, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Nasdaq
Composite had held onto gains while the Dow Jones Industrials finished lower.
Data as of
10/18/19
|
1-Week
|
Y-T-D
|
1-Year
|
3-Year
|
5-Year
|
10-Year
|
|
Standard &
Poor's 500 (Domestic Stocks)
|
0.5%
|
19.1%
|
7.9%
|
11.8%
|
9.4%
|
10.5%
|
|
Dow Jones Global
ex-U.S.
|
1.2
|
10.8
|
4.2
|
4.5
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
|
10-year Treasury
Note (Yield Only)
|
1.8
|
NA
|
3.2
|
1.8
|
2.2
|
3.4
|
|
Gold (per ounce)
|
0.7
|
16.3
|
21.8
|
5.8
|
3.7
|
3.7
|
|
Bloomberg Commodity Index
|
-0.2
|
2.5
|
-8.3
|
-3.1
|
-7.6
|
-5.4
|
S&P 500, Dow Jones Global ex-US, Gold,
Bloomberg Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not
pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and
the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each
of the historical time periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, MarketWatch, djindexes.com,
London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not
applicable.
it’s that time
again. During the past few weeks, Nobel
Prize winners have been announced as well as Ig Nobel Prize winners. The Igs
are awarded for improbable research that makes people laugh and then think. A
lucky few have won both Ig Nobel and Nobel prizes.
The honorees at the Ig Nobel
ceremony received their awards from “a group of genuine, genuinely bemused
Nobel Laureates, in Harvard’s historic and largest theater.” This year’s
winners included:
·
Medicine: Cancer
researcher Silvano Gallus and associates researched and wrote the paper, Does Pizza Protect Against Cancer? They
received the Ig Nobel for “collecting evidence that pizza might protect against
illness and death, if the pizza is made and eaten in Italy.”
·
Biology: A group
of researchers from the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Nanyang
Technological University in Singapore were recognized for “discovering that
dead magnetized cockroaches behave differently than living magnetized
cockroaches.”
·
Engineering:
Iman Farahbakhsh of Iran was recognized for patenting an infant diaper changer
and washer. The patent explained, “…once the infant is placed inside the
apparatus, various steps may in some cases be carried out automatically without
needing the operator to touch the infant or interact manually with the diaper
or infant during the changing process…”
·
Economics: Father
and son, Timothy and Andreas Voss, and their associates received an Ig Nobel
for “testing which country’s paper money is best at transmitting dangerous
bacteria.”
Other winners explored the
pleasure of scratching an itch (Peace Prize), the volume of saliva produced
daily by a five-year-old child (Chemistry Prize), and whether holding a pen in
your mouth increases happiness (Psychology Prize).
Weekly Focus – Think About It
“There is nothing in the world so
irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”
--Charles Dickens, English author
Best regards,
Leif
M. Hagen
Leif
M. Hagen, CLU, ChFC
LPL Financial Advisor
LPL Financial Advisor
P.S. Please feel free to forward this commentary
to family, friends, or colleagues. If you would like us to add them to the
list, please reply to this email with their email address and we will ask for
their permission to be added.
Securities
offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC.
*
These views are those of Carson Coaching, and not the presenting Representative
or the Representative’s Broker/Dealer, and should not be construed as
investment advice.
*
This newsletter was prepared by Carson Coaching. Carson Coaching is not
affiliated with the named broker/dealer.
*
Government bonds and Treasury Bills are guaranteed by the U.S. government as to
the timely payment of principal and interest and, if held to maturity, offer a
fixed rate of return and fixed principal value.
However, the value of fund shares is not guaranteed and will fluctuate.
*
Corporate bonds are considered higher risk than government bonds but normally
offer a higher yield and are subject to market, interest rate and credit risk
as well as additional risks based on the quality of issuer coupon rate, price,
yield, maturity, and redemption features.
*
The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities
considered to be representative of the stock market in general. You cannot
invest directly in this index.
*
All indexes referenced are unmanaged. Unmanaged index returns do not reflect
fees, expenses, or sales charges. Index performance is not indicative of the
performance of any investment.
*
The Dow Jones Global ex-U.S. Index covers approximately 95% of the market
capitalization of the 45 developed and emerging countries included in the
Index.
*
The 10-year Treasury Note represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to
the public. Since the U.S. Government is seen as a risk-free borrower,
investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for the long-term bond
market.
*
Gold represents the afternoon gold price as reported by the London Bullion
Market Association. The gold price is set twice daily by the London Gold Fixing
Company at 10:30 and 15:00 and is expressed in U.S. dollars per fine troy
ounce.
*
The Bloomberg Commodity Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified
benchmark for the commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures
contracts on 19 physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
*
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as “The Dow,” is an
index representing 30 stock of companies maintained and reviewed by the editors
of The Wall Street Journal.
*
The NASDAQ Composite is an unmanaged index of securities traded on the NASDAQ
system.
*
International investing involves special risks such as currency fluctuation and
political instability and may not be suitable for all investors. These risks
are often heightened for investments in emerging markets.
*
Yahoo! Finance is the source for any reference to the performance of an index
between two specific periods.
*
Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as
investment advice or to predict future performance.
*
Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted and there can be no
guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.
*
Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk,
including loss of principal.
*
You cannot invest directly in an index.
*
Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal.
* The foregoing information has
been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee
it is accurate or complete.
*
There is no guarantee a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or
outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect
against market risk.
*
Asset allocation does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.
*
Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.
*
To unsubscribe from the “Peek of the Week,” please reply to this email with
“Unsubscribe” in the subject line or write us at: Hagen Financial Network,
Inc.; 4640 Nicols Rd – Suite 203; Eagan, MN 55122.
Sources:
https://insight.factset.com/sp-500-earnings-season-update-october-18-2019 (or
go to https://peakcontent.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/+Peak+Commentary/10-21-19_FactSet-S_and_P_500_Earnings_Season_Update_October_18_2019-Footnote_1.pdf)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pound-dips-as-brexit-talks-hit-a-roadblock-11571303767 (or go to https://peakcontent.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/+Peak+Commentary/10-21-19_WSJ-Stocks_Climb_on_Strong_Earnings_Brexit_Deal-Footnote_4.pdf)
https://www.barrons.com/articles/dow-jones-industrial-average-ends-week-lower-as-boeing-ibm-bruise-benchmark-51571443912?mod=hp_DAY_4 (or go to https://peakcontent.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/+Peak+Commentary/10-21-19_Barrons-The_Dow_Found_a_Way_to_Waste_a_Perfectly_Good_Week-Footnote_6.pdf)
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/e1/ed/d0/6cb8dd7a5c6a96/US20170143168A1.pdf (In the Summary 0006)
