The short version

Thursday, October 16, was a down day for most of the TSP, with one fund standing out. The S Fund fell 1.60%, the only one-day move larger than 1% in either direction. The C Fund slipped 0.63%. The I Fund and F Fund both gained, and the G Fund did what it always does.

TSP funds, one by one

C Fund closed at $105.7862, down 0.63%. That matches the S&P 500's 0.63% decline, which is what you'd expect since the fund follows that index. Over five days it is down 1.82%, and it is still up 14.09% for the year.

S Fund closed at $100.1074, down 1.60%. This is the day's big drop. The fund tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which covers mid-size and smaller companies outside the S&P 500, so it can swing harder than the large-cap C Fund. Five days: down 1.71%. Year to date: up 10.74%.

I Fund closed at $53.2661, up 0.51%. It follows MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China, and it moved the opposite way from U.S. stocks. The five-day change is a small decline of 0.1%, but the fund is up 27.03% this year, the best of the individual funds.

F Fund closed at $20.9091, up 0.33%. It follows the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index, and bonds rose as Treasury yields fell. It is up 0.91% over five days and 7.33% for the year.

G Fund closed at $19.4177, up 0.01%. It earns a Treasury-based rate, so it ticks up a hair each day regardless of the market.

The L Funds

L Funds blend the five core funds, so their results depend on how much sits in stocks versus bonds. Every L Fund fell, but the losses were modest because the I and F funds cushioned the drop in the C and S funds.

  • L 2030: down 0.19%
  • L 2035: down 0.21%
  • L 2040: down 0.23%
  • L 2045: down 0.25%
  • L 2050: down 0.27%
  • L 2055 through L 2075: down 0.35% each
  • L Income: down 0.07%

The pattern is tidy. The longer the timeline, the more stock exposure, and the bigger the dip. The long-dated funds also lost 1.19% over five days, while L Income lost just 0.21%.

What moved IRA holdings

The index and ETF figures below are the prior session's close, and they line up with the TSP picture. The S&P 500 fell 0.63% to 6,629.07. The Dow lost 0.65% to 45,952.238, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.47% to 22,562.539.

The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) fell 0.80% to $325.77. That is a bit worse than the S&P 500 because VTI holds smaller companies too, and those were the weak spot. The S Fund's drop fits the same story.

Outside the U.S., the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) rose 0.45% to $74.25, in step with the I Fund's gain.

Bonds helped. The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) gained 0.38% to $74.98 as the 10-year Treasury yield fell 1.73% to 3.976%. That is a drop of roughly 7 basis points. Falling yields lift bond prices, which is why the F Fund and BND both finished higher.

What it means for your plan

A 1.60% drop in one fund on one day is worth noticing, not reacting to. Mixed days like this are where diversification does its job: international stocks and bonds rose while U.S. stocks slid, and the L Funds lost far less than the S Fund.

The five-day numbers show a rougher week for U.S. stocks, but year-to-date gains in the C, S and I funds are still solid. If you contribute every pay period, you are buying through both the up days and the down days. One day rarely matters for a plan measured in decades, so check in on your allocation on a schedule, not on a headline.

This recap is general information, not personal advice.