• Treasuries rallied for the week while the US equity markets fell for the first time in four weeks as a potential government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling deadline weighed on global market sentiment.
• US GDP growth in Q2 was unrevised at a 2.5% annual rate, despite slight mark ups to government spending and slight mark downs to private inventory investment and exports.
• For the week, higher beta small-cap stocks outperformed large-cap stocks while large-cap growth stocks outperformed large-cap value stocks.
• The dollar dropped against most major currencies, as investors concerns grew over looming government shutdown and political controversy over raising the U.S debt ceiling.
• For August, new home sales rose 7.9% and are up 12.6% from a year ago, new orders for durable goods rose 0.1% and personal income increased 0.4%.
• Info tech and utilities were the strongest performers though still posted losses while financials and health care were the weakest performing sectors.
• For the week ending 9/27/13, the S&P 500 fell -1.06% closing at 1691.75. The MSCI EAFE Index lost -0.04% closing at 1835.85 and the MSCI EM Index dropped -1.31% to end the week at 999.88.
