The short version

Stocks did the work in the TSP on Wednesday, Oct. 15, and the I Fund did the most of it. It gained 1.01%, the only one-day move above 1% in the lineup. Bonds slipped a little, and the G Fund did what it always does and barely moved.

How the TSP funds finished

I Fund: $52.9969, +1.01%. This is the day's standout. It tracks the MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China index, and international stocks were the strongest corner of the market. VXUS, the broad international ETF, rose 0.87% in the prior session, so the direction fits. The five-day figure is still -0.28%, so one good day only partly offset a soft week. Year to date, the fund is up 26.39%, the best of the group.

C Fund: $106.4561, +0.41%. The C Fund follows the S&P 500, which rose 0.40% in the prior session. That is a close match. The five-day change is -0.62%, and the year-to-date gain is 14.81%.

S Fund: $101.7395, +0.54%. It follows the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which covers mid and small companies. I have no reading for that index here, but VTI, the total U.S. market ETF, rose 0.47%, which points the same way. The S Fund is the only stock fund with a positive five-day return, at +1.06%.

F Fund: $20.8393, -0.05%. It follows the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index. BND fell 0.07% and the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.046%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions, so a small dip makes sense.

G Fund: $19.4155, +0.01%. It earns a Treasury-based rate and doesn't swing with markets. Its five-day gain is 0.09%.

The L Funds

The L Funds blend the five core funds, and the more stock a fund holds, the more it moved. L 2030 rose 0.38%, L 2040 rose 0.46%, and L 2050 rose 0.52%. L 2055 through L 2075 all gained 0.63%. L Income, the most conservative, rose 0.18%.

Five-day returns are slightly negative across the dated funds, from -0.10% for L 2030 to -0.28% for the longest dates. One oddity: L 2075 shows a year-to-date return of 7.74%, far below the roughly 18.4% for L 2055 through L 2070. I'd treat that figure with caution.

What moved the IRA index funds and ETFs

These numbers are from the prior session's close, so they lag the TSP prices by a day.

  • S&P 500: 6,671.06, up 0.40%.
  • Nasdaq Composite: 22,670.08, up 0.66%, ahead of the broader market.
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: 46,253.31, down 0.04%, essentially flat.
  • VTI: $328.38, up 0.47%.
  • VXUS: $73.92, up 0.87%.
  • BND: $74.70, down 0.07%.
  • 10-Year Treasury yield: 4.046%, up 0.60%, or roughly two basis points.

The pattern is consistent. Growth-heavy and international stocks led, the Dow lagged, and bond prices eased as yields ticked up. The data doesn't say why, so I won't guess at a cause.

What it means for your plan

A 1% day for the I Fund is welcome, but it is one day, and the fund is still down over five days. Daily moves like this rarely change a long-term plan. The funds in your account are built to ride out weeks like this one, and your allocation matters far more than any single session.

If you hold a lifecycle fund, the L Funds did what they are designed to do: they moved with the stock market in proportion to their stock holdings. If you hold a mix of funds, the day's spread, from +1.01% to -0.05%, is a small example of why diversification exists. This recap is general information, not advice for your situation.