August 2023 Monthly Index Returns

Happy September.  We hope everyone is able to enjoy a long Labor Day weekend.


In stocks (equities):

  • Global equities fell with the MSCI ACWI dropping -2.8% during August, though it still has a YTD return of 14.8%.
  • The R1000G had the best monthly return (-0.9%) while the MSCI EM (-6.2%) fell the most.
  • US large cap stocks (-1.7%) outperformed their international developed counterparts (-3.9%) but it was the opposite in small caps (-3.4% vs. -5.0%).
  • Economic concerns in China drove emerging market returns (-6.2%) as the iShares MSCI China ETF (which we will use as a China-proxy) dropped -9.6% for the month, and we know China is roughly 1/3 of the EM index weight.
  • Over the last 1 yr period, all equity benchmarks shown, with the exception of global REITs, are positive.

In bonds (fixed income):

  • Based on the strength of the US economy, rates raise across much of the yield curve and in particular over the long-end.  30 yr Treasuries started the month at 4.02%, rose as high as 4.45% but eventually settled at 4.2% at month end.
  • Not surprisingly, 10+ Year Treasuries suffered the lowest monthly return (-2.6%) among the fixed income indexes we track.
  • On the short end, 1-5 Yr Treasuries and Corporates were positive (0.3% and 0.2% respectively) but munis fell slightly (-0.1%)
  • Outside of high yield (7.1%), Global Agg ex-US (hedged USD) is the next best performing FI benchmark (4.0%) on a YTD basis.

Click on the image to view the index return data!

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.