The Dow Jones Transportation Index climbed 0.51 percent last week as value stocks continued to perform well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.66 percent, the Russell 2000 Index 2.48 percent, the S&P 500 Index 2.51 percent and the Nasdaq 4.06 percent.
SPDR Materials (XLB) rallied 2.93 percent last week, SPDR Industrial (XLI) 1.24 percent, SPDR Consumer Staples (XLP) 0.12 percent and SPDR Utilities (XLU) 0.04 percent. iShares Edge MSCI Minimum Volatility USA (USMV) added 0.13 percent and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG) 0.52 percent.
The National Federation of Independent Business stated its small-business confidence index climbed to 100.2 in August. Job openings hit 6.6 million in July, up 10 percent from June.
Initial claims for unemployment were 884,000 for the week ended September 5. Continuing claims held steady as well.
Producer prices increased 0.3 percent in August, beating the 0.2-percenet consensus forecast, but down from July’s blistering 0.6 percent. The consumer price index and core CPI were both 0.4 percent, higher than forecast, but also below July’s 0.6-percent increase.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell slightly to 0.67 percent last week. Invesco Senior Loan (BKLN) climbed 0.64 percent and iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond (HYG) 0.39 percent thanks to falling credit risk. iShares 20+ Year Treasury (TLT) fell 0.29 percent.
The U.S. Dollar Index stabilized falling less than 0.1 percent. iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA) rose 1.46 percent and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM) added 0.50 percent.
Crude oil lost two months of gains and fell to $37.33 by the Friday close. Reports of rising offshore storage coupled with the Russian central bank warning the price could fall to $25 spooked traders. SPDR Energy (XLE) dipped 2.79 percent.