TSP funds at the Friday close

Every TSP fund finished higher on Friday, but the gains were uneven. The S Fund was the standout, rising 1.04% to $103.8681. That is the only move above 1% in the lineup.

The C Fund barely moved, up 0.06% to $109.5106. It tracks the S&P 500, so a small gain means large U.S. companies were mostly flat as a group. The gap between the S and C funds is the story of the day. The S Fund follows the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which covers U.S. companies outside the S&P 500, mostly mid-sized and smaller firms. When that group jumps while the big names sit still, you get a spread like this. The data here doesn't say why smaller companies rallied, so I won't guess.

Over five days, though, the S Fund is still down 0.86%, and the C Fund is down 1.35%. Friday's pop didn't erase a soft week.

The I Fund rose 0.23% to $60.8406. It follows the MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China index, so it reflects stocks outside the U.S. and China. It was the week's best performer at +2.02%, and its year-to-date gain of 8.59% is the largest of any TSP fund.

Bonds and the G Fund

The F Fund gained 0.24% to $21.1707. It tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index, which moves opposite to interest rates. That fits the Treasury market, where the 10-year yield fell 1.17% to 4.056%. Falling yields lift bond prices.

The G Fund added 0.01% to $19.6894. It pays a Treasury-based rate and doesn't swing with the market, so it's the quiet line on the page. Its year-to-date gain is 0.5%.

L Funds

The lifecycle funds blend the five core funds, so they landed between the stock and bond results. The 1-day gains ran from 0.09% for L Income to 0.25% for L 2055 through L 2075. The longer-dated funds hold more stock, which is why they gained a bit more.

Five-day returns for most L Funds sit near zero. The longest-dated ones, L 2055 through L 2075, are down 0.1% for the week. Year-to-date, those same funds lead the group at 3.1%, ahead of L 2050 at 2.72% and L 2040 at 2.46%.

What moved IRA index funds and ETFs

One note on timing: the index and ETF numbers below are from the prior session close, so they don't line up perfectly with the TSP figures above.

The S&P 500 closed at 6,836.17, up 0.05%. The Dow rose 0.10% to 49,500.93. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.22% to 22,546.67, so the tech-heavy index lagged the other two.

Broad ETFs did a bit better than the headline indexes. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) gained 0.19% to $336.65. It holds companies of all sizes, so smaller stocks likely helped it. Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) rose 0.33% to $82.40, the best of the stock funds here. Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) added 0.29% to $74.88, helped by the drop in the 10-year yield.

If you hold a simple mix of U.S. stocks, international stocks and bonds in an IRA, that mix was positive across the board in this data.

What it means for your plan

One day rarely matters for a long-term plan, and this one is a good example. A 1.04% jump in the S Fund looks big, but it came after a week when the same fund was down 0.86%. The I Fund's strong week and year-to-date gain show how different corners of the market can lead at different times, which is the point of holding a mix.

If you're in an L Fund, your fund is doing what it was built to do: spread the risk and keep moving without any effort from you. If you build your own allocation, a day like this is a reminder to check that your mix still matches the plan you set, not a reason to change it. Your situation, timeline and risk tolerance are your own, so decisions belong with your plan, and a fee-only adviser can help if you want a second opinion.