April 2021 Monthly Index Returns

Good morning!  May has arrived and Mother's Day is right around the corner. Please see a brief summary of the Monthly Index Returns below. The full comparison is attached. 

In equities:

• All equity benchmarks shown were positive for the month
• US REITs (8.3%) and Global REITs (7.1%) led during April with Frontier Markets (6.8%) and Large Growth (6.8%) just behind
• US small cap value (2.0%) cooled during April and was the lowest performing equity asset class while Intl Small Caps earned double the return (4.0%)

In fixed income:

• All benchmarks, with the exception of the JPM GBI Global ex-US hedged USD (-0.3%), had returns in positive territory for the month while many still remain negative on a YTD basis
• LT Treasuries (2.4%) and LT Corporates (2.0%), which had the steepest decline during Q1 2021, saw some reversal in April, but still have the deepest losses YTD 
• Treasury rates generally fell across the 5 - 30 year parts of the curve
• The Fed stated in late April they want to see "substantial further progress" toward maximum employment and 2% average inflation before they start to reduce the pace of bond purchases, which should be a precursor to the Fed's decision to raise rates

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