TommyIV's TSP Talk Blog

Traders took some profits this week following the rally sparked by the celebrated jobs report last Friday. The S&P 500 closed down the first four days of the week; a rare streak of late for the index. Pressure was added to stocks Tuesday as the Commerce Department signaled minimal product tariff exclusions to promote more production in the U.S. This troubled investors as it followed a less aggressive stance on tariffs from the White House days before. Stock markets do not like mixed signals.

Other headlines, such as Larry Kudlow appointment as the economic advisor for the White House, had minimal effect on the market's direction. Rather, the action was a bit choppy intraday for stocks this week with a pattern of poor closes for the indices. At this point, traders may be holding back until the FOMC meeting next week where a rate hike is expected. We are also a few weeks from earnings season so traders may be holding some extra cash until then.

The F-fund outperformed the TSP funds this week with a gain of 0.22%. All the TSP stocks funds were in negative territory for the week with the C-fund lagging down 1.2%.




Here are the weekly, monthly, and annual TSP fund returns for the week ending March 16th:




The SPY (S&P 500 / C-fund) could not keep the momentum from the previous week rolling and rather took back the gains from the jobs report rally and filled the open gap it produced. There was a trend line from the January and February peaks as well as last Friday's open that held as support as the week continued. The index did lessen the losses Friday with a slight gain to give the C-fund a loss of 1.2% for the week.




The Wilshire 4500 Completion Index (S-fund) had a similar week to large caps but with less magnitude in losses. The index is near rising support as well as its 20 and 50-day EMA just below that for additional support. The S-fund was down 0.64% for the week.




$IEE (EAFE Index / I-fund) was caught between a small price patch between its 20-day EMA, acting as support, and its 50-day EMA, acting as resistance. The index did fall slightly for the week but enough to fill the open gap produced at Monday's open. The I-fund was down 0.36% for the week.




AGG (Bonds / F-fund) had enough early strength this week to move above its 20-day EMA for the first time since the beginning of the year. It does have a couple resistance trend lines keeping pressure on the index from more upside action. Next week's FOMC meeting may shake up this index one way or another. The F-fund led the TSP funds with a gain of 0.22% 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
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