Post by odie on Apr 13, 2014 16:54:17 GMT 7
US
Economic statistics remain mixed while the severe winter storms have continued to affect some indicators released during February including
the ISM Manufacturing index which declined to an 8 month low in January. Similarly, industrial production declined by 0.3% in January
and retail sales fell by 0.4%, a slow- down from the final months of 2013. In her first congressional testimony, the Fed’s Chairman Janet
Yellen mentioned the weather related impacts on economic activity.
More importantly, her testimony confirmed that the Fed will likely stick to its current policy and “reduce the pace of asset purchases in further
measured steps”. Unemployment continued its slow decline and fell to 6.6% in January coming very close to the Fed’s threshold of 6.5%
although it is expected that the Fed will revise its forward guidance broadening out the number of targets
The S&P 500 increased by 4.6% in total return terms over the month with the NASDAQ index beating this with a return of 5.0% reflecting outperformance in IT and biotechnology stocks. Food and drug retailers were the best performing sector of the S&P 500 followed by cyclical sectors such as Chemicals, Construction and Autos. US government bonds reported modest returns with the 10 year US Treasury producing a total return of 0.5%
Economic statistics remain mixed while the severe winter storms have continued to affect some indicators released during February including
the ISM Manufacturing index which declined to an 8 month low in January. Similarly, industrial production declined by 0.3% in January
and retail sales fell by 0.4%, a slow- down from the final months of 2013. In her first congressional testimony, the Fed’s Chairman Janet
Yellen mentioned the weather related impacts on economic activity.
More importantly, her testimony confirmed that the Fed will likely stick to its current policy and “reduce the pace of asset purchases in further
measured steps”. Unemployment continued its slow decline and fell to 6.6% in January coming very close to the Fed’s threshold of 6.5%
although it is expected that the Fed will revise its forward guidance broadening out the number of targets
The S&P 500 increased by 4.6% in total return terms over the month with the NASDAQ index beating this with a return of 5.0% reflecting outperformance in IT and biotechnology stocks. Food and drug retailers were the best performing sector of the S&P 500 followed by cyclical sectors such as Chemicals, Construction and Autos. US government bonds reported modest returns with the 10 year US Treasury producing a total return of 0.5%
