Market Overview
Sources: Sources for data in tables: Equity Market and Fixed Income returns are from JP Morgan as of 11/24/17. Rates and Economic Calendar Data from Bloomberg as of 11/27/17. International developed markets measured by the MSCI EAFE Index, emerging markets measured by the MSCI EM Index. Sector performance is measured using GICS methodology.
Happening Now
Stocks found stable footing during last week’s holiday shortened trading session. During the three and half days the U.S. markets were open, the S&P 500 Index gained 0.9%, the Russell Midcap Index gained 0.8%, and the Russell 2000 Index ended the week 1.8% higher. The gains in equities overall, and specifically small cap stocks, resulted from continued economic growth momentum as well as the residual impacts of the focus on U.S. tax reform. On the international front, developed markets gained 1.9% outpacing emerging markets, which experienced a 1.6% advance.
Consumer discretionary stocks were one of the best performing sectors last week. This is perhaps due to the expected impact that Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will have on the sector. With total sales from this past weekend (including Monday) expected to double last year’s figure, the U.S. consumer is clearly alive and well as we head into the final month of the year.
Barring a dramatic, volatility causing market event, 2017 will go down as one of the calmest years on record for equity markets. This is despite a never ending flow of news regarding policy, politics, and international tensions. With December just around the corner, we thought we’d take account of where we are and what we expect during the home stretch of this very memorable year.
While the S&P 500 Index has gained approximately 20% thus far this year, the performance across styles and sizes, while directionally consistent, has diverged meaningfully. U.S. Large Cap Value stocks, for example, are up 9.2% this year, returning less than one-third of the 28.1% gain U.S. Large Cap Growth stocks have experienced thus far. This theme has been consistent across all three primary groupings of market capitalization with growth outperforming value in the mid and small cap spaces as well. In terms of company size, large cap firms have outperformed mid-caps, which, in turn, have outperformed small caps. Large cap companies generate relatively more revenue (about 30% on average) from international sources and thus are more leveraged to the international growth that we’ve also seen this year. Looking ahead to the final month of the year and into 2018, keep an eye on small cap stocks which stand to likely benefit more from tax reform than their larger counterparts.
With Q3 earnings season in the books, December’s most anticipated market moving news will come in the form of a widely anticipated, third and final, Federal Reserve rate hike this year after the scheduled Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting in December. This would raise the Federal Funds Target Rate from a range of 1.00% – 1.25% to 1.25% – 1.50%. However, considering that this move is already “priced in” we do not expect much of a reaction in the capital markets. Tax cuts/reform, of course, has the most potential to move markets but it is unclear whether or not we will get an announcement before year end and it possible that it becomes a 2018 issue. Outside of the FOMC and tax cuts/reform, and beyond the usual monthly economic data releases, December is often the month when tax loss harvesting and year end fund positioning have the potential to increase trading volume.
Important Information and Disclaimers
Disclosures: Hennion & Walsh is the sponsor of SmartTrust® Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). For more information on SmartTrust® UITs, please visit www.smarttrustuit.com. The overview above is for informational purposes and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any SmartTrust® UITs. Investors should consider the Trust’s investment objective, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information relevant to an investment in the Trust and investors should read the prospectus carefully before they invest.
Investing in foreign securities presents certain risks not associated with domestic investments, such as currency fluctuation, political and economic instability, and different accounting standards. This may result in greater share price volatility. These risks are heightened in emerging markets.
There are special risks associated with an investment in real estate, including credit risk, interest rate fluctuations and the impact of varied economic conditions. Distributions from REIT investments are taxed at the owner’s tax bracket.
The prices of small company and mid cap stocks are generally more volatile than large company stocks. They often involve higher risks because smaller companies may lack the management expertise, financial resources, product diversification and competitive strengths to endure adverse economic conditions.
Investing in commodities is not suitable for all investors. Exposure to the commodities markets may subject an investment to greater share price volatility than an investment in traditional equity or debt securities. Investments in commodities may be affected by changes in overall market movements, commodity index volatility, changes in interest rates or factors affecting a particular industry or commodity.
Products that invest in commodities may employ more complex strategies which may expose investors to additional risks.
Investing in fixed income securities involves certain risks such as market risk if sold prior to maturity and credit risk especially if investing in high yield bonds, which have lower ratings and are subject to greater volatility. All fixed income investments may be worth less than original cost upon redemption or maturity. Bond Prices fluctuate inversely to changes in interest rates. Therefore, a general rise in interest rates can result in the decline of the value of your investment.
Definitions
MSCI- EAFE: The Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index, a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure developed-market equity performance, excluding the United States and Canada.
MSCI-Emerging Markets: The Morgan Stanley Capital International Emerging Market Index, is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the performance of global emerging markets of about 25 emerging economies.
Russell 3000: The Russell 3000 measures the performance of the 3000 largest US companies based on total market capitalization and represents about 98% of the investible US Equity market.
ML BOFA US Corp Mstr [Merill Lynch US Corporate Master]: The Merrill Lynch Corporate Master Market Index is a statistical composite tracking the performance of the entire US corporate bond market over time.
ML Muni Master [Merill Lynch US Corporate Master]: The Merrill Lynch Municipal Bond Master Index is a broad measure of the municipal fixed income market.
Investors cannot directly purchase any index.
LIBOR, London Interbank Offered Rate, is the rate of interest at which banks offer to lend money to one another in the wholesale money markets in London.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an unweighted index of 30 “blue-chip” industrial U.S. stocks.
The S&P Midcap 400 Index is a capitalization-weighted index measuring the performance of the mid-range sector of the U.S. stock market, and represents approximately 7% of the total market value of U.S. equities. Companies in the Index fall between S&P 500 Index and the S&P SmallCap 600 Index in size: between $1-4 billion.
DJ Equity REIT Index represents all publicly traded real estate investment trusts in the Dow Jones U.S. stock universe classified as Equity REITs according to the S&P Dow Jones Indices REIT Industry Classification Hierarchy. These companies are REITSs that primarily own and operate income-producing real estate.