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The Markets
Soothing words from Federal Reserve Bank officials helped settle investors' fears last week, and U.S. stock markets moved higher. The Dow Jones Industrials Average was up 0.7 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 0.9 percent, and the NASDAQ rose by 1.4 percent.
Markets were more stable during the week, and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which gauges investors' fear by measuring volatility expectations for the coming 30-day period, fell by 2 percent to finish the week just below 17.
Economic data was mixed. On the negative side, U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth from January through March was revised downward from 2.4 percent to 1.8 percent annually. On the positive side, U.S. home prices gained more than 12 percent in April, which was the biggest year-to-year gain since 2006. Home sales for May also were strong, reaching a level last seen six years ago, according to the Denver Post.
Gold suffered another difficult week. Some believe the sell-off is the result of changing expectations as fear that quantitative easing might lead to hyperinflation, systemic collapse of the financial system, or devaluation of currency have begun to ease.
U.S. stock markets delivered positive performance for the quarter, as well. The Dow gained 2.3 percent, the S&P 500 was up 2.4 percent, and the NASDAQ rose by 4.2 percent. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 gained more than 12 percent during the first six months of 2013. That was its best first half of the year performance in more than a decade, according to Yahoo! Finance.
This week, some experts foresee the possibility that Fourth of July fireworks could be followed by a new round of market volatility as investors and analysts try to use the June employment report to predict the timing of monetary policy changes.
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Data as of 6/28/13
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1-Week
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Y-T-D
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1-Year
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3-Year
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5-Year
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10-Year
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Standard & Poor's 500 (Domestic Stocks)
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0.9%
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12.6%
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20.9%
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14.3%
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4.7%
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5.1%
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10-year Treasury Note (Yield Only)
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2.5
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N/A
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1.6
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3.0
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4.0
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3.5
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Gold (per ounce)
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-8.0
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-30.0
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-23.5
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-1.9
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5.1
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13.2
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DJ-UBS Commodity Index
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-2.2
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-10.5
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-4.6
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-0.3
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-11.8
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0.7
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DJ Equity All REIT TR Index
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4.0
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5.6
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12.7
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16.3
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7.6
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11.0
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Notes: S&P 500, Gold, DJ-UBS Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron's, djindexes.com, London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not applicable.
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