Think

The S&P 500, Dow Jones and NASDAQ all moved up in the week ended October 25, 2019 so the BDC sector did as well.

That’s been the pattern of late, and nothing occurred to make things different.

The S&P 500 was up 1.22% and the UBS Exchange Traded Note with the ticker BDCS, which we use a proxy for price change, jumped 0.77%.

For reasons that are not clear, the Wells Fargo BDC Index moved up only 0.22%.

(Still, the Wells Fargo index has been up for three weeks in a row, just like the S&P 500).

Yoked Together

Another week and another instance of the BDC sector being synced to the S&P. Or so the numbers seem to show.

For the week, the S&P 500 index was up 0.54%. The UBS Exchange Traded Note which owns most of the publicly listed BDCs – ticker BDCS – was up 0.52%. In the approach to earnings season, there’s little else that can move the BDC sector, so why not?

Proof Positive

Once again, the weekly performance of the BDC sector demonstrated that its ups and downs are tied to the broader markets.

We’ve watched for weeks now BDC prices rise and fall with the major indices, which are themselves apparently fixated on the progress of the trade war.

This week was no exception.

The S&P 500 moved up 0.62%, mostly late in the 5 day period, due to the promise of a trade armistice or partial deal of some sort.

“Hurrah” said the markets, but as CNBC is reporting, second and third thoughts are already running rife so the trade tease is likely to continue.

This week at least, though, the late-in-the-week optimism brought the Wells Fargo BDC Index up 0.73%, after two prior weeks in the dumps.