TSP Talk Weekly Wrap Up

Stocks were up Monday but slowly sold-off through the mid-week days as traders anticipated the release of the August jobs report Friday. The report was thought to give traders an idea of whether the Fed would raise interest rates or not in the next FOMC meeting. The consensus estimates were an addition of 185,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.8%. The actual report came out with an addition of 151,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.9%.

With the jobs report under the expected values, stocks opened higher Friday because weak economic data increases the chance of the Fed delaying rate hikes. The early action was the peak of the day as stocks sold-off intraday following the initial reaction. However stocks closed off their lows Friday after dip buyers came in mid-day.

With help from the jobs report, all the TSP funds were in positive for the week. The S-fund led the funds with a 1.34% gain on the week. The C-fund lagged the TSP stock funds with a gain of 0.56% for the week.

Here are the weekly, monthly, and annual TSP fund returns for the week ending September 2nd:

Here is the TSP fund returns for the month of August:

The SPY (S&P 500 / C-fund) continues to move sideways within a trading channel that held through the majority of August. The index has stayed close to its 20-day trading channel in recent weeks which has flattened out itself. The C-fund had a gain of 0.56% for the week and ended August with a slight gain of 0.14%.

The Dow Completion Index (S-fund) led the TSP funds this week with help for the jobs report Friday. The report helped the index to open higher leaving an open gap behind. The index continues to have support from its rising trading channel and 20-day EMA. The S-fund led the TSP funds this week with a 1.34% gain and led the TSP funds for the month of August with a gain of 0.8%.

EFA (EAFE Index / I-fund) continues to widened its trading range since reaching the April highs earlier this month. Another gap was opened at Friday’s open as the index opened up after the jobs report. The I-fund gained 1.28% for the week and ended August with a slight gain of 0.08%.

AGG (Bonds / F-fund) has also been moving sideways for more than a month and its range is getting more tightly close to its 20-day EMA. It 50-day EMA is now just below current prices so we will see if that can act as some additional support for the index. The F-fund saw a slight gain of 0.18%f for the week and it lagged the TSP funds for August with negative return of 0.11%.

Good luck and thanks for reading. We will be back here next week with another TSP Wrap Up. You can read our daily market commentary at the Market Comments page. If you need more help deciding what to do with your account, perhaps one of our Premium Services can help.

Tommy Crowley
www.tsptalk.com
Weekly Wrap-Ups Archive
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