Market Review: 8/28/20

For the Week Ending August 28, 2020

By: Steven Doll, Portfolio Strategist

It was a milestone week for the U.S. stock market as the Dow Jones joins the S&P 500 and Nasdaq by entering into positive territory for the year. Furthermore, the U.S. large-cap stock market is now up 9.6% year-to-date and outperforming the U.S. bond market for the first time this year since late February. However, U.S. small-cap stocks still remain below water for the year with year-to-date return of approximately -4.5%.

International markets also reached a milestone as emerging markets turn positive for the year with a 2.7% jump on the week. Meanwhile developed markets are still down approximately 3.4% year-to-date, despite rising nearly 2.0% this week.

Interest rates also rose this week with the 10-year treasury yield jumping from 0.64% to 0.74% after the Fed announced new easier monetary policy of targeting an “average” inflation rate of 2.0%. Consequently, the total U.S. bond market fell by roughly 0.7%, and the price of gold rose by 2.5% as the dollar sank.

Year-to Date Return (as of 08/28/2020)