TSP Talk Weekly Wrap Ups

Stocks were up again this week as traders continue to capitalize on the rally produced from the presidential election. In the spotlight is small cap stocks that have outperformed large cap stocks significantly. Large cap stocks are still up though, but the big name tech stocks are not the driving force as usual which signals a possible change in the economic environment. We have a holiday week coming up which historically produces a spike in stocks with black Friday sales attracting holiday shoppers. ...

We've talked before about the uncertainty of this year's election that has created timid traders and investors the last couple of months as the election approached. That uncertainty wore off Monday as a rally was attributed to the increased probability of a Clinton win after the FBI dropped her e-mail case again. This meant a familiar market for traders as you would expect more of the status quo that we've seen from the past eight years with Obama in office if Clinton won. It was logically predicted ...

Stocks fell everyday this week past as the election is approaching with no clear winner. There is also no telling how the market will react to a win from either candidate. On top of that, the Fed met this week and conveyed the possibility of a rate hike in December despite the poor conditions the market has experienced the last couple of months.

The jobs report came out Friday and 161,000 jobs were added in October and the unemployment rate was reported as 4.9%. This was less than ...

Stocks had issues with holding on to early gains from strong opens as they were followed by weaker closes. Earnings reports continued to be in the limelight; a weak report from Apple was a big plus for the bears as it rippled weakness throughout the major indices. There was also more political drama concerning Clinton and her emails which brings more unwanted uncertainty to the markets. In the end, stocks and bonds ended the week with negative returns with small caps taking the greatest hit. ...

Better than expected earnings reports from some big names, such as Netflix and Microsoft, gave stocks the juice to end the week in positive territory. The gains were modest, around 0.5% for TSP stock funds, but its the first positive week in October. This is good if you were in stock TSP funds for the week but still frustrating for those looking for a trend in the markets. It does seem as though stock indices are not acting in a very bull market like manner, but the outperformance of big name stocks ...