Following a worrisome close last week, major equity indexes managed to rebound in the first half of the week thanks to reassuring words from policymakers; optimism returned to Wall Street as the latest Fed minutes release emphasized that accommodative policy is still its top priority. Amid the rebound, however, profit taking pressures still resonated strongly, ultimately leading to a choppy trading week on the home front.
To help investors keep up with markets, we present our ETF Scorecard, which takes a step back and looks at how various asset classes across the globe are performing. For most of the return comparisons below, we reference trailing 1-week as well as trailing 1-month returns; this offers a good insight of the prevailing sentiment in the markets by capturing the performance across a short-term as well as longer-term time interval [for more ETF news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].
Risk Appetite Review
Amid the wave of profit taking, riskier securities have experienced more downside than their lower-volatility counterparts, which is to be expected during healthy pullbacks.
Major Index Review
After starting off 2014 on shaky footing, emerging markets have made a stellar comeback in recent weeks, managing to surpass their developed counterparts by a wide margin.
Domestic Sector Review
The energy and utility sectors stand out from the past month as the biggest winners; in the near-term, health care has been the worst performer thanks to intense selling pressures across the biotech industry.
Foreign Equity Review
Brazil’s equity market has taken the definitive lead among foreign markets as continued efforts from policymakers to battle inflation in the country have helped lift sentiment and inspire a rebound following a prolonged downtrend.
Fixed-Income Review
Treasury yields dropped this week as a “flight to safety” was prompted amid the profit taking in domestic equities.
Alternatives Review
Commodities
Gold and energy prices jumped over the past week thanks to downward pressure surrounding the U.S. dollar; however, precious metals remain the laggards in this group by far when we consider their longer-term performance.
Currencies
After kicking off the year on a rather weak note, the Aussie dollar and emerging market currencies have managed to take the lead thanks to rising commodity prices; these two have managed to rise alongside natural resource prices so far this year given their country’s dependence on commodity exports.
*All data as of market close 4/10/2014.
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