TSP Talk Weekly Wrap Up

Stocks had trouble holding on to gains early in the week but large caps thrived off a string of good news to close in positive territory for the week. Small caps also came off their lows for the week after early trouble but it wasn’t enough to wipe out the early losses.

Stocks opened up Monday after the Senate passed the tax bill over the previous weekend but the ‘sell the new’ reaction kicked in right away producing the S&P 500’s largest negative reversal day since February of 2016. Momentum switched for stocks after Congress dodged a government shutdown with a two-week extension to fund the government as well as a better than expected jobs report on Friday.

228,000 jobs were added in November exceeding the expected 190,000 jobs.

A rate hike is expected in this week’s FOMC meeting. This rate hike has been on the horizon for some time so investors should not be surprised.

The C-fund led the TSP funds for the week with a gain of 0.39%. The S-fund lagged with a loss of 0.41%.

Here are the weekly, monthly, and annual TSP fund returns for the week ending December 8th:

The SPY (S&P 500 / C-fund) opened above its rising trading channel Monday but closed back within it after the reversal. The index remained in the trading channel for the rest of the week and closed for the week at the rising resistance line. The C-fund was up 0.39% for the week.

The Wilshire 4500 Completion Index (S-fund) had a similar week to the S&P 500 but the index could not recover in the same way.The Wilshire 4500 Completion Index now is priced right between support and resistance so it could go either way next week. The S-fund was down 0.41% for the week.

$IEE (EAFE Index / I-fund) was down early this week with weakness in Asian markets but support turned the index around to make it just above positive territory for the week. An open gap was filled this week but another gap was left open after rising support turned the index around. The I-fund was up 0.9% for the week.

AGG (Bonds / F-fund) was up early with the weakness in stocks gapping up Wednesday. Investors left bonds with the good news for stocks at the end of the week. The open gap was filled and the index found support in its 20-day EMA. The F-fund was down 0.02% for the week.

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.

Thomas A Crowley
www.tsptalk.com
Weekly Wrap-Ups Archive
Facebook | Twitter

The legal stuff: This information is for educational purposes only! This is not advice or a recommendation. We do not give investment advice. Do not act on this data. Do not buy, sell or trade the funds mentioned herein based on this information. We may trade these funds differently than discussed above. We use additional methods and strategies to determine fund positions.