The Old State House. Hartford, CT.
Market Wrap
For the week ended April 12, 2024, stocks were lower everywhere. It was a challenging week for investors, primarily on the inflation front. The week started out with quiet anticipation as there was little data to react to prior to Wednesday's Consumer Price Index report, but investors were cautiously optimistic. That optimism proved false when the report showed that, not only is inflation not continuing to fall, but it actually rose for the month of March. This took on special importance after last Friday's strong US jobs report and market participants have all but given up on hopes for Federal Reserve rate cuts for 2024. While central bank officials are still indicating they expect rate cuts this year, there is more debate about when and by how much. Thursday's Producer Price Index reading did little to calm fears and some strong bank earnings on Friday were also unable to lift spirits. For the time-being, right or wrong, the focus is on interest rates. Hopes for lower rates were what sparked this rally back in October of 2023 and now some of those bets are being taken off the table, regardless of a strong economy that should bode well for corporate earnings. Despite a recovery late in the week, bonds reacted the same way as stocks and headed lower, sending the 10-year US treasury yield higher to 4.52% according to MarketWatch.
Performance Summary
As shown in the table, Emerging Markets continued its "winning" ways as it witnessed smaller losses than its Developed Market counterparts. Within the US, despite higher interest rates, it was the Tech-heavy Nasdaq that won again, particularly on Friday when bank stocks dragged the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower. From a factor perspective, Momentum and Quality outperformed the global All Country World Index (ACWI).
In The News
Our interview on Fox with last minute tax tips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnptxDD_Y4c
Why haven't regulators done more about enforcing fiduciary rules? And why don't advisory firms embrace them?
Once again, the only bright spot to inflation - higher cost of living adjustments to social security.
Disclosures
Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable or equal the corresponding indicated performance level(s). Moreover, you should not assume that any of the above content serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Metric Financial.
All data and performance information sourced from Morningstar and MarketWatch, unless otherwise indicated.
USA is the MSCI USA index, Non-US Developed is the MSCI EAFE index, Emerging Markets is the MSCI Emerging Markets index, and All Country World is the MSCI ACWI index. One cannot invest in an index. Because the factor indexes have varying inception dates, some of the returns provided are back-tested and do not represent actual performance. Inception dates are as follows:
Momentum = MSCI ACWI Momentum NR USD Index (Inception: 11/30/95)
Value = MSCI ACWI Enhanced Value NR USD Index (Inception: 5/29/15)
Quality = MSCI ACWI Quality NR USD Index (Inception: 5/29/92)
Low Volatility = MSCI ACWI Minimum Volatility (USD) NR USD Index (Inception: 5/28/93)
Size = MSCI ACWI Risk Weighted NR USD Index (Inception: 4/6/11)
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All written content is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of Metric, unless otherwise specifically cited. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources and no representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness. All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation.
Returns for global market and US indexes. As of 4/12/24. Source: Morningstar.