• The S&P 500 was up 1.07% for the week and closed above 1700 for the first time ever, while posting gains 5 out of the last 6 weeks.
• U.S economic growth was downgraded from “moderate” to “modest” by the Federal Reserve, which led to speculation that tapering will not happen as soon as expected.
• The employment report revealed merely 162,000 nonfarm jobs were created in July versus the expected 183,000 but the report also showed the unemployment rate fell to 7.4%, its lowest reading in four years.
• After reporting near record inflows for the past two weeks, the high-yield bond market was down 0.39% for the week.
• The ISM manufacturing index increased to 55.4 in July, the highest level since June 2011. The production index jumped in July coming in at 65.0 while the new orders index also rose to 58.3.
• For the first time in almost a month gold futures declined 0.9% for the week.
• Industrials and consumer discretionary were the best performing sectors for the week while telecom services and energy were the worst performing sectors.
• For the week ending 8/02/13, the S&P 500 gained 1.07% closing at 1709.67. The MSCI EAFE Index gained 1.41% closing at 1763.27 and the MSCI EM Index dropped -0.64% to end the week at 955.35.
