For the 2nd week in a row, the Nasdaq lead the pack. This outperformance is reminiscent of what we have seen for much of last year.

Most of the weekly gains were made on Monday as markets experienced continued optimism surrounding the management of the coronavirus situation. However, this sanguinity appeared to fade as the week progressed toward the long holiday weekend. With each passing day, the global death toll climber higher. On Thursday, the reported deaths increased by almost 250, due to a change in how the infections are being defined. As of this week, the official death toll has nearly reached 1900.

After weeks of unsurety regarding the economic impact of the Coronavirus, American businesses located in Asia have stated to cite it as a factor. On Thursday, American Chamber of Commerce members in Vietnam who were surveyed said that they were experiencing difficulty maintaining their supply chains.

Executive Director Adam Sitkoff stated in an interview that:

"More than half of our members in the manufacturing sector are experiencing difficulty sourcing supplies/materials due to disruptions from the coronavirus," 

And that

“Supply chain disruptions and travel restrictions are and will continue to impact many business sectors,”

This past weekend, another survey of 109 American companies in Shanghai showed that 78% did not have enough workers to start full production. And half of those surveyed said that their global operations have already been impacted by the virus.

 

In his semiannual testimony before congress, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the central bank is “closely monitoring” the coronavirus situation and that the U.S. Economy appears “resilient”

For the time being, the Fed remains unswayed by the news from overseas. “As long as incoming information about the economy remains broadly consistent with this outlook, the current stance of monetary policy will likely remain appropriate,” he said


Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Coronavirus Cases Seemed to Be Leveling Off. Not Anymore.,” February 13, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/health/coronavirus-cases-china.html.

“U.S. Firms in Vietnam Hit by Coronavirus Supply Chain Issues: AmCham Survey.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, February 14, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-vietnam-amcham/u-s-firms-in-vietnam-hit-by-coronavirus-supply-chain-issues-amcham-survey-idUSKBN2081EW.

Ylanmui. “Powell Stresses That Fed Is 'Closely Monitoring' Coronavirus for Hit to China and the World.” CNBC. CNBC, February 11, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/11/powell-testimony-fed-is-closely-monitoring-coronavirus-for-impact.html.


______________________________________________

The S&P 500® Index is a capitalization index of 500 stock-designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of stock representing all major industries.

https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500

The Dow Jones Industrial Average® (The Dow®), is a price-weighted measure of 30 U.S. blue-chip companies. The index covers all industries except transportation and utilities.

https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/dow-jones-industrial-average

The NASDAQ Composite Index measures all NASDAQ domestic and international based common type stocks listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market. Today the NASDAQ Composite includes over 2,500 companies, more than most other stock market indexes. Because it is so broad-based, the Composite is one of the most widely followed and quoted major market indexes

https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/Index/Overview/COMP

The MSCI World Index, which is part of The Modern Index Strategy, is a broad global equity benchmark that represents large and mid-cap equity performance across 23 developed markets countries. It covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country and MSCI World benchmark does not offer exposure to emerging markets.

The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index is designed to represent the performance of large- and mid-cap securities in 24 Emerging Markets countries of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. As of December 2017 it had more than 830 constituents and covered approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.

https://www.msci.com/

The S&P GSCI Crude Oil index provides investors with a reliable and publicly available benchmark for investment performance in the crude oil market.

https://us.spindices.com/indices

Companies in the S&P 500 Sector Indices are classified based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®).

https://us.spindices.com/indices