November 2020 Index Returns

Attached are the monthly index returns for November 2020. November was a month for the record books, literally. 

• Most equity benchmarks returned between 10-20% for the month with only EM (+9.2%) and FM (+4.1%) falling below that threshold.  No equity benchmarks were negative for the month or the last three months.
• Much of the optimism in equities comes from the belief that with the US being close to approving a vaccine, the economy will be able to recover what it lost in 2020. 
  • To frame the next few bullet points, keep in mind the Russell family of indexes started on December 31, 1978
    • The R2000 and R2000V had the highest monthly return ever in November 2020
    • The R2000G and R1000V had the second highest monthly return ever in November 2020
    • The R1000 had its 4th highest monthly return ever in November 2020
    • Interestingly, while the R1000G returned 10.2% in November 2020, there were two other months in 2020 that were higher.  One was April 2020, which saw the indexes highest monthly return ever, and August 2020, which was only 8 bps higher than November's return.
  • The MSCI EAFE outperformed US large cap for the month and the last three months
  • While MSCI EAFE Small Cap earned a 13.7% return, the DFA Intl Small Cap Value fund gained 15.7%
  • On a 1 Yr view, REITS are the only equity benchmark with a negative return
• For November, all FI benchmarks were positive
  • Not surprisingly, the 3 Mo Tbill had a 0% return over the one and three months
  • Across the Treasury yield curve, we saw rates rise slightly during the month, only to see them fall to levels at or slightly below where they started the month.  As a reference point, the 10 Yr US Treasury ended November at 0.84%.
  • As expected, corporates outpaced Treasuries across the different maturity bands with munis falling in between the two

Please let us know if you have any questions.