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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