Week Ending September 16, 2022
Equity markets tanked last week following the hot inflation report that investors believe will force the Fed’s hand with larger rate increases. U.S. large, mid- and small-caps all performed similarly, loosing between 4.5% and 4.8% of their value, while foreign shares held up a little better, falling just over 3%.
This week’s valuation update focuses on dividend yields. While stocks in the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) offer a paltry yield of just 1.8%, below their 10 year average of a still-paltry 2.0%, foreign stocks offer yields at least twice as much (3.6%-3.8%), well above their 10 year averages.
TABLE 1: Major Benchmarks: Weekly Total Returns and Valuation Update
Week ending September 16, 2022
Ticker | Fund | Return | Fwd. Yld | 10 yr. Avg | Prem/Disc. |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -4.8% | 1.8 | 2.0 | -10.0% |
QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -5.8% | 1.0 | 1.3 | -23.1% |
MDY | SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF Trust | -4.7% | 1.8 | 2.3 | -21.7% |
IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -4.5% | 1.8 | 2.9 | -37.9% |
EFA | iShares MSCI EAFE ETF | -3.3% | 3.8 | 2.9 | 31.0% |
EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | -3.1% | 3.6 | 2.3 | 56.5% |
Source: FactSet Research Systems and ETF Research Center.
All 11 sectors fell last week. Materials sold off the hardest at 6.6%, but followed closely by Industrials, Communication Services, Tech and Real Estate. Health Care fared best (-2.3%) followed by Energy (-2.7%).
Real Estate, Energy and Utilities offer the highest yields, all above 3.0%, but only Real Estate’s yield of 3.4% is above its 10 year average. Utilities, traditionally a higher yielding sector, has a yield of 3.1%, well below its 10 year average of 3.7%. Meanwhile the lowest yields are found in the Consumer Discretionary sector at just 1.0%, but that is in line with the sector’s historical average.
TABLE 2: Major Sectors: Weekly Total Returns and Valuation Update
Week ending September 16, 2022
Ticker | Fund | Return | Fwd. Yld | 10 yr. Avg | Prem/Disc. |
XLC | Communication Services Select Sector SPDR* | -6.3% | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.0% |
XLY | Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR | -4.0% | 1.0 | 1.2 | -16.7% |
XLP | Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR | -3.6% | 2.7 | 2.9 | -6.9% |
XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR | -2.7% | 3.3 | 3.5 | -5.7% |
XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR | -3.8% | 2.4 | 2.0 | 20.0% |
XLV | Health Care Select Sector SPDR | -2.3% | 1.7 | 1.9 | -10.5% |
XLI | Industrial Select Sector SPDR | -6.4% | 2.0 | 2.3 | -13.0% |
XLB | Materials Select Sector SPDR | -6.6% | 2.3 | 2.2 | 4.5% |
XLRE | The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR* | -6.3% | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.0% |
XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR | -6.2% | 1.1 | 1.5 | -26.7% |
XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR | -3.8% | 3.1 | 3.7 | -16.2% |
Source: FactSet Research Systems and ETF Research Center. *Note: Fewer than 10 years of valuation history available.