SPY SPDR S&P 500

Following the holiday weekend, investors came back to Wall Street in a buying mood and managed to push the S&P 500 Index to fresh highs yet again, with the benchmark settling just below 2,080 ahead of Friday’s employment report. On the data release front, better-than-expected ISM and motor vehicle sales served as tailwinds throughout the week. Overseas, investors were a bit disappointed with the ECB pushing off any potential stimulus announcements into next year, while last week’s OPEC decision to refrain from cutting down supply continued to take its toll on energy-related assets [see also Low Carbon ETF, China Commercial Paper Fund, "Switch" ETN Debut].

To help investors keep up with markets, we present our ETF Scorecard, which takes a step back and looks at how various asset classes across the globe are performing. For most of the return comparisons below, we reference trailing 1-week and trailing 1-month returns; this offers a good insight into the prevailing sentiment in the markets by capturing the performances across short-term and longer-term time intervals [for more ETF news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

Risk Appetite Review

The bulls’ risk appetite declined for a second week in a row, and this time Low Volatility names settled in green while High Beta stocks couldn’t hold onto gains over the trailing week:

google.load('visualization', '1', {packages: ['corechart']}); function drawVisualization() { // Create and populate the data table. var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([ ['Ticker', '5-Day Return', {role: 'style'}], ['S&P 500 (SPY)', 0.01, 'blue'], ['Equal Weight (RSP)', -0.1, 'orange'], ['High Beta (SPHB)', -0.89, 'red'], ['Low Volatility (SPLV)', 0.78, 'green'], ]); var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat( {suffix: "%"}); formatter.format(data,1); // Create and draw the visualization. new google.visualization.BarChart(document.getElementById('visualization105384')). draw(data, {title:"Comparing Risk Preferences", width:700, height:400, vAxis: {title: ""}, hAxis: {title: ""}} ); } google.setOnLoadCallback(drawVisualization); Major Index Review

Emerging markets turned in the worst performance for the week, while the Nasdaq-100 replaced the Dow 30 as the top performer over the trailing month:

// // Domestic Sector Review

Utilities and Health Care took on defensive appeal and turned in the best performances for the week, while the OPEC decision sent the Energy sector plunging lower in just a matter of days:

  // // Foreign Equity Review

On the international front, Brazil and Russia posted steep losses, largely due to weakness in the energy market, while China turned in the strongest returns for the week:

google.load('visualization', '1', {packages: ['corechart']}); function drawVisualization() { // Create and populate the data table. var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([ ['Index', '1-Week Return', '1-Month Return'], ['Brazil (EWZ)', -9.53, -3.1], ['Russia (RSX)', -9.86, -9.11], ['India (EPI)', 0.73, 0.95], ['China (FXI)', 1.42, 5.49], ['Japan (EWJ)', 0.69, 1.12], ['Australia (EWA)', -2.53, -4.66], ['Germany (EWG)', -1.38, 5.36], ['United Kingdom (EWU)', -1.6, 1.01], ]); var formatter = new google.visualization.NumberFormat( {suffix: "%"}); formatter.format(data,1); formatter.format(data,2); var options = { title:"", width:700, height:400, title: "Geographic Review: Comparing Single Countries", colors: ["green", "orange"] }; // Create and draw the visualization. new google.visualization.ColumnChart(document.getElementById('visualization105395')). draw(data, options); } google.setOnLoadCallback(drawVisualization); Alternatives Review

Commodities

Natural gas and crude oil were the biggest losers over the past week as well as the trailing month, while gold and silver have settled into positive territory over the trailing month:

// //

Currencies

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar continued its ascent higher, sending virtually all other currencies lower for the week:  

  // //

*All data as of market close 12/4/2014.

Follow me on Twitter @Sbojinov.

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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.

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