February 2021 Monthly Index Returns

Happy March! We hope you are all doing well.

A synopsis of index returns for February 2021 is found below.

In equities:

Small cap value had the highest return for the month (9.4%), last 3 month (24.3%) and YTD (15.2%)
Large cap growth, the darling of 2020, has actually fallen -0.8% YTD through February month end
On a one year basis, small cap value trails large cap growth by only 3.2%. This is noteworthy as the difference was greater than 50% as recently as September 2020.
Domestic equities outperformed their non-US counterparts in February, though EM has been strong over the last 3 months and 1 year
Overall the rise in small cap is arguably coming from the light at the end of the Covid tunnel as vaccine deployment boosts economic confidence, benefiting those companies hardest hit during the pandemic.

In fixed income:

We saw 30, 10 and 5 yr Treasury yields rise by 30, 33, and 30 bps respectively during February while the really short end of the curve stayed relatively flat.
With that in mind, Treasuries generally fell by more over the month than corporates or munis of similar maturities
High yield FI, which we know is much more correlated to equities vs. traditional FI, was one of two FI benchmarks to enjoy positive returns for the month (the other benchmark was the 3 mo Tbill, which only rose by 1 bp).

If you have any questions, please contact support@xyinvestmentsolutions.com

As an additional note, please keep in mind that these reflect historical performance of the current models, not necessarily how accounts were invested in the past.