Monthly Archives: April 2020
Mid Atlantic’s Weekly Market Summary
Welcome to the Weekly Market Summary:
Recently we’ve launched the Mid Atlantic Weekly Market Summary to provide our clients with a quick review of the market across Equities, Fixed Income and Macroeconomic Data. Our goal is to gather the critical data points from the markets as we kick off another week and to keep it as brief as possible. We hope having these insights top of mind will help you navigate the week ahead.
Market Data as of Week Ending 04/24/2020 unless noted otherwise.
EQUITIES
Stock prices generally declined for the week as investors consider the impact of continued weakness in near term demand for many goods and services. The price of oil was an area under considerable pressure, as the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil slumped to historic levels. Small and medium sized businesses outperformed their larger counterparts which may indicate early signs of investor optimism toward the recovery. Developed foreign stocks in Europe and Asia also declined for the week and Emerging Market stocks lagged developed foreign markets.
BONDS
U.S. Treasury yields narrowly decreased as demand in the treasury market remains high across a diverse group of investors. Below investment grade corporate bonds declined last week despite strong demand for new issuance. Investment grade corporate bonds are yielding just under 3% and high yield corporate bonds are yielding more than 8%.
MACROECONOMIC DATA
Jobless claims rose 4.4 million last week, bringing the total to more than 25 million Americans who have filed initial claims for unemployment insurance since the COVID-19 crisis began. Other U.S. economic data such as existing home sales, manufacturing, services, and durable goods orders recorded significant declines for the month of March. On a positive note, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a $484 billion spending bill to provide additional loans to small businesses and funding for coronavirus testing and hospitals.
Mid Atlantic 401(k) Benchmark Reflects COVID-19 Impact on Retirement Savings of Americans
The Mid Atlantic Trust Company 401(k) Benchmark, which reflects the portfolio performance across 401(k) plans serviced by the company, finished the first quarter of 2020 with a -16.12% trailing return. The 16.12% decline for the quarter comes on the heels of a 6.13% return for the fourth quarter of 2019 and an overall return of 21.24% for the calendar year 2019.
The performance of the 401(k) Benchmark is in line with the trajectory of the major market indices amidst the world’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Six weeks into 2020 all of the major indices reached all-time highs, but quickly retreated from those lofty levels during March as the economic impact of the pandemic began to take hold. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) posted a drop of -23.2% for the first quarter, its worst quarter since the fourth quarter of 1987. The S&P 500 posted a -20% change for the quarter — its worst overall quarter since the fourth quarter of 2008. The NASDAQ Composite Index finished the first quarter of 2020 posting a -14.18% return, its worst since 2018.
| Index Returns | 1Q2020 |
| DJIA | -23.2% |
| S&P 500 | -20.0% |
| MATC 401(k) Benchmark | -16.12% |
| NASDAQ | – 14.18% |
| 10-Yr Treasury Yield | – 1.18% |
As the equity market performance shifted in the first quarter of 2020, the shift in asset allocation across 401(k) plans is reflected in the 401(k) Benchmark. The allocation of U.S. Stock holdings dropped from 57% of holdings at the end of Q4 2019 down to 52% at the end of Q1 2020. Non-U.S. stocks stood firm at 18% in a quarter-over-quarter comparison, while Cash, U.S. Bonds and Non-U.S. Bond holdings saw an uptick in total holdings.
ABOUT THE MID ATLANTIC 401(k) BENCHMARK
Mid Atlantic Capital Group is a leading financial services organization that provides a wide array of brokerage, advisory, and trust services to a diverse national client base of financial advisors and institutions, asset managers, and benefits administrators through its various subsidiary companies. Because we provide these services, Mid Atlantic Trust Company has plan investment data on approximately 95,000 401(k) plans representing approximately $100 billion in assets. Data used for this benchmark uses approximately 31,000 of those plans (see fact sheet for further information on actual sample). In response to requests from our institutional clients, we have created the Mid Atlantic Trust Company 401(k) Composite Benchmark which is designed to reflect the portfolio performance across 401(k) plans serviced, in any capacity, by Mid Atlantic.
For a copy of the full report of the Mid Atlantic Trust Company 401(k) Composite Benchmark, click here.
Contact Mr. Scott Hervoyavich of Mid Atlantic Trust Company at 800-693-7800 or by emailing him at shervoyavich@macg.com