Market Commentary

Market Commentary 8/11/2008

The Markets

A rising dollar and falling oil overshadowed news of higher unemployment and lower worker productivity last week, giving the major indexes their largest weekly gains since April. The dollar gained its highest level against the euro since February, contributing to the continued drop in oil prices that now totals a decline of more than $30 a barrel over the past four weeks. The Labor Department reported slightly slower growth in worker productivity, with a second quarter gain of just 2.2 percent compared to the 2.7 percent analysts had predicted. The Dow ended the week with a 3.71 percent gain to close at 11,734.32. The S&P rose 2.93 percent to end the week at 1,296.32, and the NASDAQ climbed 4.46 percent to finish the week at 2,414.10.

2008-08-11 Market Returns

Source: Morningstar.com. * Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Three and five-year returns are annualized. The S&P, excluding “1 Week” returns, is a reflection of return to an investor, by reinvesting dividends after the deduction of withholding tax.

Holding Pattern – The Federal Reserve voted this week to hold the federal funds rate at 2 percent, More…