TommyIV's TSP Talk Blog

Jerome Powell's comments following the FOMC meeting and the decline in oil put pressure on stocks mid-week but a better than expected jobs report pushed large caps into positive territory for the week. It seemed as though the bears were making their move this week starting Wednesday when the Fed left interest rates unchanged and seem to be staying patient yet reactive. This leaves too many possibilities for the comfort of stock investors. Stocks sold off into the close Wednesday which continued into Thursday with the help of declining oil prices bringing down the S&P 500 energy sector.

Stocks regained those sharp declines with a celebrated jobs report. 263,000 jobs were added in April, exceeding expectations, and unemployment dropped down to 3.6%. Stocks opened higher Friday and added to the initial gains throughout the day.

Most of the major earnings report have been released which have been positive for the most part. The remaining reports will be mostly small-cap earnings. Trade deals with China will be watched closely as deals continue to be negotiated and as many are becoming impatient.

The stock TSP funds were all up for the week despite mid-week troubles. The S-fund outperformed with a gain of 0.85%. The F-fund fell 0.7% for the week.




Here are the weekly, monthly, and annual TSP fund returns for the week ending May 3rd:




The SPY (S&P 500 / C-fund) found support from both a rising trading channel and its 20-day EMA after falling sharply Wednesday. The set up allowed the index for a nice rebound following the positive report. The continued technical stability of the index makes you wonder if a poor jobs report would have been sold. The open gap below is now under the 50-day EMA adding to the technical difficulty of filling it sooner than later. The C-fund was up 0.22% for the week.




The Dow Completion Index (S-fund) jumped above the resistance trend of the last two months on Friday. The jobs report momentum pushed the index to a new high for the year. Small caps still have not reached the highs of 2018 like large caps. The index faces a couple lines of resistance going into next week. The S-fund was up 0.85% for the week to outperform the TSP funds.




EFA (EAFE Index /I-fund) broke below its 20-day EMA momentarily this week but found rising support right below to bounce back above. The index closed at its high for the week. Open gaps linger below but stocks have had the momentum lately to leave gaps behind while they usually are filled. The I-fund was up 0.32% for the week.




AGG (Bonds / F-fund) jumped up intraday Wednesday around the FOMC meeting but those gains were taken away pushing the index to negative territory for the week. The 20-day EMA marked the lows for the week and also prevented the complete close of an open gap from last week. The index moved out of the open gap Friday to get the losses for the week down to 0.07%.




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
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