Weekly Capital Markets Update

Market Overview

Sources: Sources for data in tables: Equity Market and Fixed Income returns are from JP Morgan as of 02/21/2020. Rates and Economic Calendar Data from Bloomberg as of 02/21/2020. 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                   

Global equity markets cooled down last week after February’s hot start. In the U.S., the S&P 500 Index fell to a level of 3,338, representing a loss of 1.22%, while the Russell Midcap Index retreated 0.81%. The Russell 2000 Index, a measure of the Nation’s smallest publicly traded firms, returned -0.52% over the week. On the international equities front, both developed and emerging markets finished in the red returning -1.23% and -1.96% last week respectively. Finally, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell to 1.46%, down 13 basis points from the previous week.

Once again, the infamous coronavirus is attracting attention. This time, investors may be taking the potential economic implications a bit more seriously. For some time, we’ve known about the virus’s potential impact on China, and in turn, the global economy. Disruption to product demand and more substantial adverse effects on the global supply chain from the world’s second-largest economy was worth monitoring. However, up until recently, worries were staved off by positive economic data, earnings growth, and potential fiscal and monetary support in China. What changed?

Early last week, the scales started to tip when Apple signaled that the virus would likely put a drag on earnings, due to the aforementioned supply and demand disruption. When the world’s largest company talks, investors often listen. Perception started shifting, leading us into this week. U.S., European, and Asian markets opened deep in the red. This time, the threat of additional spreading across the globe and pandemic fears rocked markets. In Asia, concerns centered around South Korea and exports. In Europe, a spike in cases in northern Italy dealt a significant blow to an already struggling region. The proximity of Italy to countries like Germany and Switzerland, a major manufacturing hub in the Eurozone, pressured markets further.

Not to discount the significance of the health situation, we believe fears from an investment perspective are overblown, specifically for investors with long or intermediate time horizons. As an example, the chart below helps to put the coronavirus’s impact on emerging market equities into context. Sharp recoveries have historically followed sharp sell-offs attributable to potential pandemic fears. Outbreaks may move markets, but they have not driven global recessions historically.

Source: Wells Fargo Investment Institute

We encourage investors to stay disciplined and work with experienced financial professionals. The financial markets have, and will continue to, experience shocks and cycles. However, unnecessary reactionary investment decisions can be detrimental to longer-term portfolio returns. A qualified financial professional can often help manage an investor’s portfolio through various market cycles within an appropriately diversified framework that is consistent with their objectives, time-frame, and tolerance for risk.

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 REITs that primarily own and operate income-producing real estate.