Strong stock market boosts TSP returns in February

After a rocky start to the year, fund performance for the Thrift Savings Plan rebounded last month. A strong February on Wall Street helped fuel across-the-boar...

After a rocky start to the year, fund performance for the Thrift Savings Plan rebounded last month. A strong February on Wall Street helped fuel across-the-board gains in all five of the TSP’s regular funds, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board .

The largest gains came in the stock funds. The C Fund, designed to track the performance of the S&P 500, finished the month with a gain of 4.58 percent. The S Fund, an index of smaller companies not included on the S&P 500, was up more than 5 percent. The I Fund, which tracks the performance of international companies, claimed the month’s largest gains — up 5.58 percent.

Those were the strongest gains for the C, S and I funds since last fall.

The F Fund, which tracks a broad index of corporate and government bonds, inched up 0.62 percent last month. That has the F Fund up more than 2 percent so far for 2014 — a far cry from last year when it struggled to stay in the black most of the year and finished 2013 down more than a point.

Overall, all five regular funds are trending positive for the year.

The Lifecycle Funds — made up of a mix of the five core TSP funds — all finished the month with modest gains.

Overall, February proved to be a strong month for the stock market.

“February looked a lot like January, just moving in the opposite direction,” Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist with Brown Brothers Harriman Wealth Management, told the Associated Press.

Strong corporate earnings and confidence in new Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen helped boost stocks, according to AP.

Thrift Savings Plan February 2014 returns

Fund February Year-to-Date Last 12 Months
G Fund 0.18% 0.39% 2.03%
F Fund 0.62% 2.21% 0.55%
C Fund 4.58% 0.97% 25.44%
S Fund 5.43% 3.42% 32.45%
I Fund 5.58% 1.32% 19.66%
L Income 1.15% 0.73% 6.29%
L 2020 2.73% 1.12% 13.63%
L 2030 3.44% 1.33% 17.00%
L 2040 3.94% 1.50% 19.49%
L 2050 4.44% 1.61% 21.87%

RELATED STORIES:

TSP board considers rebranding Lifecycle Funds

Rocky start to 2014 as TSP returns trend negative

A strong February wipes out S&P 500’s January loss

TSP ends 2013 with nearly across-the-board gains

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