July 2023 Monthly Index Returns

It's August, which means the end of summer (my favorite season).  Hope everyone gets to enjoy some warm weather and clear blue skies.  

Please note we made a few updates to the document in July including:

• We replaced the MSCI EAFE and MSCI EAFE Small Cap with the MSCI World ex USA and MSCI World ex USA Small Cap as the World includes Canada, which we feel is a better fit.  Overall, there is not a significant difference between the MSCI World and EAFE over the long term.
• We added the MSCI World ex USA Small Cap Value as another reference point for international equity returns.
• We consolidated the FI categories to simply US and Global/Global ex-US.  This means cash, ST TIPS and HY were added to the USFI category.
• We updated the disclosures as appropriate to include the new benchmarks being shown.

In stocks (equities):

• All equity indexes shown were positive for the month with R2000V gaining the most (7.5%) and US REITs gaining the least (still up 2.9%).
• All equity indexes shown also have positive YTD returns.  We are hearing from advisors that your clients are pleasantly surprised with their YTD returns, given they seem to be reading/hearing about negative economic news.  It is always a good reminder that the market is not the economy, and vice versa.
• In the US, growth and value were roughly the same in the large cap space, but value outperformed in small cap.
• Global ex-US REITs rose a healthy 5.2% return in July to eke out a positive return YTD.

In bonds (fixed income):

• Treasury rates rose across he 2 yr - 30 yr nodes of the curve, resulting in negative returns for IT Treasuries (-0.3%), LT Treasuries (-2.0%) and the Agg (-0.1%).
• Corporate bonds outpaced their Treasury and muni peers
• Global ex-US (hedged USD) bonds were slightly positive, moving up 0.1% for the month but 3.7% YTD, outpacing most ST and IT US-based benchmarks on a YTD basis.

Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing 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.