Thursday's TSP Results

Thursday was a down day for stock funds and a flat one for bonds. Every TSP fund except the G Fund finished lower, and only one of them crossed the 1% mark.

The I Fund fell 1.05% to $63.5023, the one move over 1% on the board. It tracks the MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China index, so it moves with stocks outside the U.S. Over five days it is down 0.79%, but it is still up 13.34% for the year.

The C Fund dropped 0.51% to $121.2823. It follows the S&P 500, which fell by the same 0.51%. That is the point of an index fund: the two numbers should match, and they did. The C Fund is down 0.12% over five days and up 10.51% year to date.

The S Fund slipped 0.35% to $115.6450. It follows the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which covers U.S. companies outside the S&P 500. It held up better than the C Fund on the day. Its five-day loss of 1.32% is the largest of any TSP fund, though, and it still leads the year at 13.75%.

The F Fund lost 0.03% to $20.9324, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index. The G Fund gained 0.01% to $20.0540, as it does most days. It pays a Treasury-based rate and does not swing with markets.

L Funds

The L Funds blend the individual funds above, so their results follow how much stock each one holds. L 2055 through L 2075 hold the most stock and all fell 0.67%. L 2050 lost 0.56%, L 2040 lost 0.49%, and L 2030 lost 0.36%. L Income, the most conservative mix, fell just 0.18%. More stock meant a bigger drop on a day like this.

What Moved IRA Index Funds and ETFs

The index data below is labeled as the prior session close, so it may not line up perfectly with the TSP date.

The S&P 500 fell 0.51% to 7,533.77. The Dow was the steadiest, off 0.20% at 52,552.969. The Nasdaq Composite had the roughest day, down 1.47% to 25,881.949.

Those moves carried into the ETFs many IRAs use. Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI) lost 0.49% to $370.58. Vanguard Total International (VXUS) dropped 1.09% to $84.06, the same direction as the TSP's I Fund. Vanguard Total Bond Market (BND) barely moved, down 0.01% at $72.81.

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up 0.53% to 4.569%, about 2 basis points. A slightly higher yield tends to nudge bond prices down, and that fits with the tiny declines in BND and the F Fund. The data here does not say why stocks sold off, so I won't guess.

What It Means for Your Plan

One day rarely matters for a retirement plan built over years. A 0.5% dip in the C Fund is small next to a 10.51% gain this year, and even the I Fund's bigger drop leaves it up 13.34%.

Thursday did show how a mix works. Stock funds fell, while the G Fund and the F Fund hardly moved. If your allocation fits your time horizon, a day like this is mostly noise. Check your mix when your own situation changes, not when one session goes against you.