The short version

Wednesday was a broad down day for stocks. Every TSP fund except the G Fund finished lower, and the three stock funds all fell more than 1%. The G Fund did what it always does and added a hair.

How the TSP funds finished

C Fund fell 1.52% to $117.8005. It tracks the S&P 500, which also fell 1.52%, so the match is exact. The fund is down 2.43% over five days but still up 7.34% for the year.

S Fund dropped 1.62% to $112.8644, the biggest one-day loss of the group. It follows the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which covers mid-sized and smaller U.S. companies outside the S&P 500. That is a different index from the Dow Industrials, though both fell sharply. The S Fund still leads the single funds for the year at 11.01%.

I Fund lost 1.17% to $61.8421. It follows the MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China index of stocks outside the U.S. and China. The five-day slide of 3.01% is the steepest in the lineup, though the fund is still up 10.37% year to date.

F Fund slipped 0.37% to $20.8114. It tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate bond index. The 10-year Treasury yield rose 0.39% to 4.622%, a move of under two basis points. Bond prices fall when yields rise, so a small loss fits. Over five days the F Fund is essentially flat at -0.02%.

G Fund gained 0.01% to $20.0864. It pays a Treasury-based rate and doesn't swing with markets, so it rose a little while everything else fell.

The L Funds

The L Funds blend the five core funds, so their losses scale with how much stock each one holds. L 2055 through L 2075 all fell 1.40%, which reflects their heavy stock mix. L 2050 lost 1.17%, L 2045 lost 1.10%, and L 2040 lost 1.03%. L 2035 fell 0.95%, L 2030 fell 0.78%, and L Income, the most conservative blend, fell 0.41%.

Moves over 1%

Those over the line: C (-1.52%), S (-1.62%), I (-1.17%), and the L 2040 through L 2075 funds. The five-day drop in the I Fund (-3.01%) also stands out. The data doesn't say what set off the selling, so I won't guess.

What moved IRA holdings

The index figures I have are labeled as prior-session closes, and they line up closely with the TSP numbers.

The S&P 500 closed at 7,316.15, down 1.52%. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.74% to 24,442.94. The Dow Industrials took the biggest hit, down 2.19% to 51,594.14.

For the ETFs many IRAs hold, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) fell 1.52% to $360.42, in line with the S&P 500. The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) lost 1.03% to $82.39. The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) slid 0.36% to $72.38, close to the F Fund's 0.37% drop.

The common thread was higher yields (the 10-year at 4.622%) alongside lower stock prices. Bonds gave back a little instead of cushioning the fall by much.

What it means for your plan

A 1.5% drop looks sharp on a screen, but it's an ordinary kind of bad day for a stock portfolio. The year-to-date figures are still positive across the stock funds, and the target-date funds are up between 6% and 9%.

If you're years from retirement, one session shouldn't change your approach. If you're close to needing the money, a day like this is a reminder of why the L Income and G Funds exist, but that's a question for your own timeline and risk tolerance. Nothing here is personal advice. One day rarely matters for a plan built over decades, and checking your allocation on a schedule beats reacting to a headline.