August 2021 Monthly Index Returns

Good morning.  With September upon us, we hope everyone has a nice, relaxing three day weekend upcoming!

In equities:

• All equity indexes shown had positive returns during August.
• The Russell 1000 Growth had the highest equity return in August (3.7%) and over the last 3 months (13.9%).
• Global ex-US REITS had the lowest performing equity return during August (1.2%).
• Even with the regulatory crackdown in China this month, emerging market stocks were still positive, gaining 2.6%.
• Through the first eight months of the year, many equity benchmarks have already achieved double digit returns, with most being well above their longer term averages.  While we are not predicting a downturn, we would remind everyone to both look for rebalancing opportunities and to continuously manage client expectations.

In fixed income:

• Fixed income indexes fell for August with the exception of the 3 Month Tbill (which was barely positive at 0.004%), 1-5 yr Inflation Linked Treasuries (0.01%), and High Yield (0.5%).
• On the Treasury curve for the month, 3 Month Treasuries and shorter fell ever so slightly, with everything longer having risen for the month.
• 5 and 7 Yr Treasuries rose 8 bps during August, the highest increase along the Treasury curve.

Something to think about: August was a month where we saw the FDA give Pfizer-BioNTech full FDA approval for the Covid-19 Vaccine and, at the same time, saw a rise in the Delta variant.  Questions continue to linger about how much this variant will impact the global economy.  How will it impact how central banks think about stimulus?  Will inflation indeed be transitory?  Stay tuned for more details regarding an upcoming East Bay community webinar that can help answer these questions and more. 

Finally, there were some changes to the indexes shown in August:

• To be more aligned with the benchmarks used in the non-US FI space, we are now including the Bloomberg Global Aggregate ex-USD TR Hdg USD, having removed the JMP GBI ex-US TR benchmarks (both the hedged and unhedged versions).
• Also, the benchmarks that previously utilized the Bloomberg Barclays name are now only using the Bloomberg name.  The benchmarks and disclosures have been updated to reflect this change.

Should you have any questions please send an email to 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.