TSP funds at the close

Stock funds did the lifting on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Bonds gave a little back. The G Fund sat still.

The C Fund, which follows the S&P 500, gained 0.37% to $108.4891. The I Fund, tied to MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China, added 0.22% to $53.2155. The F Fund, which mirrors the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index, fell 0.36% to $20.7357. The G Fund, which pays a Treasury-based rate and doesn't swing with markets, rose 0.01% to $19.4632.

The one move over 1%

The S Fund climbed 1.04% to $100.1816, easily the day's biggest gain. It tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which covers mid-sized and smaller companies outside the S&P 500. That is a different slice of the market from the C Fund, so the two can part ways, and today they did. The S Fund still shows a 5-day loss of 1.32%, so this was a good day inside a soft week.

The five-day column is worth a look. The C Fund is down 1.35%, the I Fund down 1.25%, and the S Fund down 1.32%. Wednesday's gains were a partial bounce, not a recovery. Year to date, the I Fund leads at 26.91%, followed by the C Fund at 17.0% and the S Fund at 10.82%.

L Funds: a blend, so a blended day

L Funds hold the five individual funds in different mixes, so their results line up with how much stock each one carries. The long-dated funds, L 2055 through L 2075, gained about 0.39% to 0.40%. The middle of the lineup ran from +0.22% (L 2030) to +0.30% (L 2050). L Income, the most conservative, rose 0.10%.

Over five days the order flips the same way: L 2055 is down 1.3%, L 2030 down 0.77%, and L Income down 0.33%. L 2075 shows a year-to-date figure of 8.73%, well below its neighbors near 19.5%. I wouldn't read much into that without checking the fund's history.

What moved IRA-style holdings

The index figures below are from the prior session's close, so they won't line up perfectly with the TSP numbers above.

The S&P 500 finished at 6,796.29, up 0.36%. The Dow rose 0.48% to 47,311.0, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.65% to 23,499.801. Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI) rose 0.43% to $333.16, which fits a broad rise across large and smaller companies.

Outside the U.S., Vanguard Total International (VXUS) added 0.68% to $74.35.

Bonds went the other way. Vanguard Total Bond Market (BND) slipped 0.28% to $74.08. The 10-year Treasury yield rose 1.66% to 4.157%, which works out to roughly 7 basis points. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions, so a rising yield usually comes with a falling bond fund. That is the same pattern we saw in the TSP's F Fund, down 0.36%.

What it means for your plan

One day tells you very little. A 1.04% jump in the S Fund and a 0.36% dip in the F Fund are both ordinary moves, and the five-day numbers show how quickly the direction can change. If you contribute every pay period, you are buying at all of these prices, and that is the point of doing it on a schedule.

The useful question is whether your mix still matches your timeline and your comfort with swings. That's a question for a calm afternoon, not a Wednesday close. This recap is general information, not advice for your situation.