The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index swung alternately up and down more than 4 percent each day from Monday through Thursday. Never before in the history of the S.& P. index, which goes back to 1928, have there been alternating gains and losses of more than 4 percent in four days. In most years, there were no such days at all.
“Heightened volatility is here to stay,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor’s equity research.
“This has been an unbelievable week. You just had fear totally take over,” said Scott Wren, the senior equity strategist for Wells Fargo Advisors. “And the problems have not been solved. European sovereign debt issues are not going to go away. The debt and deficit situation is not going to go away.”
via As Trading Week Ends, Investors’ Concerns Do Not – NYTimes.com.
Among Treasurys, TIPS Shine
By MIN ZENG
NEW YORK—While the focus has been on rising prices of regular Treasurys, a tiny, often-overlooked corner of the U.S. government-bond market—Treasury inflation-protected securities—has been the best-performing U.S. fixed-income asset this year.
Through Thursday, TIPS have handed investors a 12.09% return, almost double the 6.16% return of their big brothers, according to data from Barclays Capital. Over the same period, U.S. high-yield corporate bonds returned a meager 0.37% and municipal bonds returned 7.24%.