Economic Overview, Summer 2011

Whittier Trust’s quarterly economic commentary and a graph of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index with annotations of significant events is attached below. The trends we have highlighted in our commentary include a first quarter economic growth of 1.9%, which was less than had been expected, a persistently high unemployment rate of 9.2%, and volatile, but essentially flat, second quarter stocks.

Economic Overview, Spring 2011

The US stock market was strong in the first quarter (Q1), returning 5.9% as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The Dow Jones Industrials did even better, earning 6.1%. Non-US stocks lagged, as the EAFE Index of developed countries gained 3.5% and emerging nations rose 2.2%. Bonds had very modest results due to rising interest rates. The Barclays Aggregate Bond Index returned 0.4%.