Friday's TSP close

Most TSP funds ended the week with a small loss on Friday, and one fund had a real drop. The G Fund was the only one to finish higher, up 0.01% at $20.1665.

The S Fund is the story. It fell 1.37% to $117.0009, the only move bigger than 1% on the board. Its 5-day return is now -1.32%, so nearly all of the week's damage came in this one session. The year-to-date gain is still 15.08%, which keeps it in context.

Stock funds

The C Fund slipped 0.25% to $124.2921, in line with its benchmark, the S&P 500. It is up 0.5% over five days and 13.26% for the year.

The S Fund tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Completion index, which is made up of mid-size and smaller U.S. companies. It fell about 1.1 points more than the C Fund. The data here doesn't say why, only that the smaller and mid-size companies took the brunt of the selling while the large-cap S&P 500 held up better.

The I Fund fell 0.35% to $66.2250, following its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI ex-US ex-China. Its 5-day return is -0.14%, but its 18.2% year-to-date gain is the best of the individual funds.

Bonds and the G Fund

The F Fund dropped 0.32% to $20.8684, tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate. Its 5-day gain is 0.13% and its year-to-date return is just 0.04%. The 10-year Treasury yield rose about 1.03% to 4.72%, roughly 5 basis points. Rising yields push existing bond prices down, which fits the F Fund's decline.

The G Fund follows a Treasury rate and doesn't carry price risk. It added 0.01% and is up 2.93% this year.

L Funds

The L Funds are blends of the individual funds, so they moved in proportion to how much stock each one holds. The pattern was orderly:

  • L Income: -0.13%
  • L 2030: -0.24%
  • L 2040: -0.33%
  • L 2050: -0.37%
  • L 2055 through L 2075: -0.43%

The later the target date, the more stock exposure and the bigger the drop. Every L Fund still posted a small gain over five days, between 0.04% and 0.08%.

What moved IRA holdings

The index figures below are listed as the prior session close, so line them up with the TSP numbers loosely.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.25% to 7,711.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was almost flat, down 0.02% at 53,559.988. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.52% to 26,402.42, so the weakness leaned toward growth-heavy names.

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) fell 0.33% to $379.36. Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) dropped 0.47% to $87.52. Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) lost 0.32% to $72.31, matching the F Fund's move and the rise in yields.

What it means for your plan

A 1.37% drop in one fund on one Friday is worth noticing, but it is not a verdict on your plan. The S Fund is still up more than 15% this year, and every L Fund is positive over the past five days. Retirement plans are built to be judged over years and decades, and a single session rarely changes the outcome. If your allocation still fits your timeline and your comfort with risk, a day like this is mostly a reason to check that the plan is still the plan.

This recap is general information, not personal advice.