TSP Talk Weekly Wrap Ups

A relief sell-off in oil prices gave way to a rally in stocks that lasted the rest of the week. Momentum buying rolled through the rest of the week as the underinvested feared missing out on gains. Indices rolled on to higher highs through Thursday and Friday giving the S&P 500 (C-fund) its best week since November 2020. The S and I-fund outperformed the large cap C-fund with both finishing with more than 7% in gains while the C-fund was up 'just' 6.19%.

This rally came alongside the ...

A spike in oil prices to start instantly brought stock prices into negative territory for the week. Monday's losses amounted to be the worst single day action in the S&P 500 in over a year. But a rally Wednesday made headlines of its own with the biggest single day gains in indices since March 2020. Of course the action didn't stop there; Wednesday's prolific gains were a perfect opportunity for those exposed to Monday's sell-off to exit stocks. The indices were down the next two days and the C ...

All three TSP stock funds were down for the week, but each differed in magnitude. The lucky stock investors had their hand in the large cap C-fund that was protected by the large gains of energy stocks included in the S&P 500. Building sanctions and disdain towards Russia's oil supply has lifted oil prices leaving room for more profits for existing oil and energy companies. The C-fund ended the week with a loss of 1.23% and more than half of those losses came Friday. Small caps lagged large caps ...

The long-anticipated invasion of Ukraine by Russia took place this week. Uncertainty leading up to the invasion had investors retreating in mass from risky assets. When the invasion became official Thursday morning, stocks opened down and it seemed the selling would deepen. Instead, the morning lows on Thursday would be the base of a rally that extended through Thursday and Friday where stocks closed at their highs for the week in positive territory. After spending most of the week in negative territory, ...

The market was exposed to more of the same this week: geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the Federal Reserve's potential response to it. Stocks saw one day of respectable gains this week which came Tuesday when it seems tensions were easing at the Ukrainian border when Russia claimed it was pulling back troops. Those reports were claimed to be false the following day and it seemed the troops were rather added. By the end of the week the C-fund gave up 1.52% while the S-fund lagged ...