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A Review of Key Factors Affecting the Equities Market

The price performance of the domestic equity market is generally measured by reference to stock indexes that aggregate the performance of multiple stocks. CME Group offers liquid futures contracts tied to a wide variety of frequently referenced “benchmark” stock indexes including the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the Nasdaq-100 and many more.

Many fundamental factors, including general macroeconomic conditions, Fed monetary policy, fiscal policy, foreign investment interest, to name just a few, impact the price performance of these stock indexes. This document provides a review of these factors as they played out in the most recently completed calendar quarter. While we cover activity in a broad spectrum of domestic stock indexes, the S&P 500 represents a central focus of this discussion.