Tuesday's TSP scorecard

Every TSP fund finished higher on Tuesday, June 2, though the sizes of the gains varied a lot. The S Fund did the heavy lifting with a 1.07% jump to $115.4664. That is the only move over 1% on the board.

The I Fund gained 0.42% to $64.9821. The C Fund rose 0.13% to $122.3388. The F Fund added 0.04% to $20.9766, and the G Fund edged up 0.01% to $19.9447.

Why the funds line up with their benchmarks

The S Fund follows the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which holds the U.S. companies that are not in the S&P 500, mostly small and mid-sized firms. A day when those stocks outrun the big names is exactly when this fund pulls ahead. Its 5-day gain of 2.2% is the best of any fund this week, and its year-to-date return stands at 13.57%.

The C Fund tracks the S&P 500, and its 0.13% gain matches the 0.13% shown for the index itself. Year to date it is up 11.48%.

The I Fund follows MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China. It rose 0.42%, in the same direction as the international ETF covered below. It leads every fund year to date at 15.98%.

The F Fund follows the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index. A small gain of 0.04% fits a quiet day for bonds. The G Fund simply pays a Treasury-based rate, so it moves in tiny, steady steps. It is up 1.8% for the year, ahead of the F Fund's 0.56%.

L Funds: the blend effect

The L Funds mix the five core funds, so their results follow how much stock each one holds. L Income, the most conservative, rose 0.11%. L 2030 gained 0.20%, L 2040 gained 0.26%, and L 2050 gained 0.29%. L 2055 through L 2075 all posted the same numbers: +0.35% on the day, 1.32% over five days and 13.26% year to date. The longer the time horizon, the more the S, C and I funds drive the result.

What moved IRA index funds and ETFs

The index and ETF figures below are from the prior session's close, so they are not a perfect match for the TSP's Tuesday numbers.

  • S&P 500: 7,609.78, up 0.13%
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: 51,307.79, up 0.45%
  • Nasdaq Composite: 27,093.90, up 0.03%
  • Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI): $374.36, up 0.26%
  • Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS): $86.96, up 0.75%
  • Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND): $73.20, up 0.03%
  • 10-Year Treasury yield: 4.455%, down 0.45%

The Dow outpaced the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq barely moved. The broad U.S. market, as VTI shows, gained a modest 0.26%. International stocks led the group, with VXUS up 0.75%. Bonds were steady. A slightly lower 10-year yield tends to go along with small bond price gains, and BND's 0.03% fits that pattern. The data here does not say what drove any of it, so I will not guess at a cause.

What it means for your plan

A 1.07% day for the S Fund is worth noticing, but it is one day. Five-day and year-to-date figures give a better sense of direction, and even those shift quickly. Your long-term plan was built to handle days like this one, up or down, without much attention from you. Nothing here is personal advice. If you are thinking about changing your mix, make that decision around your goals, your timeline and your comfort with risk, not around a single morning's numbers.