Sentiment shifted this past month, with concerns migrating beyond inflation to include increasing probabilities of a looming recession. Economic indicators pointed to slowing industrial production, reduced consumer consumption and plummeting levels of consumer confidence. This led to a healthy drop in stock prices as equity investors began to price in a higher probability that corporate earnings growth will slow. Higher interest rates pressured bond prices resulting in another month of negative returns for fixed income assets. Overall, there was a flight to safer assets as those with greater economic sensitivity experiencing the most significant losses.
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The S&P 500 index includes 500 leading companies in the US and is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap US equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a widely-watched benchmark index in the U.S. for blue-chip stocks; it is a price-weighted index that tracks 30 large, publicly-owned companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. The Nasdaq Composite Index is a large market-cap-weighted index of more than 2,500 stocks, American depositary receipts (ADRs), and real estate investment trusts (REITs), among others. The Russell 2000 index measures the performance of approximately 2,000 smallest-cap American companies in the Russell 3000 Index. The MSCI EAFE Index is an equity index which captures large- and mid-cap representation across 21 Developed Markets countries around the world, excluding the US and Canada. With 876 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the free float adjusted market capitalization in each country. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index captures over 1,300 large- and mid-cap securities across 27 Emerging Markets (EM) countries and five world regions. The MSCI World Real Estate Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that consists of large and midcap equity across 23 Developed Markets (DM) countries. All securities in the index are classified in the Real Estate Sector according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®).
The FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI) is a broad index providing exposure to the global sovereign fixed income market, it measures the performance of fixed-rate, local currency, investment-grade sovereign bonds. The WGBI is a widely used benchmark that currently includes sovereign debt from over 20 countries, denominated in a variety of currencies, and has more than 30 years of history available. The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index Is a market-value-weighted index for the long-term tax-exempt bond market. To be included in the index, bonds must have a minimum credit rating of Baa. They must have an outstanding par value of at least $7 million and be issued as part of a transaction of at least $75 million. The bonds must be fixed rate, have a dated-date after December 31, 1990 and must be at least one year from their maturity date. The Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) is calculated on an excess return basis and reflects commodity futures price movements. The index rebalances annually weighted 2/3 by trading volume and 1/3 by world production and weight-caps are applied at the commodity, sector and group level for diversification. The Bloomberg Intermediate US Government/Credit Bond Index is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the non-securitized component of the US Aggregate Index with less than 10 years to maturity. The index includes investment grade, US dollar-denominated, fixed-rate treasuries, government-related and corporate securities. The Bloomberg Barclays US Intermediate Corporate Bond Index measures the investment grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bond market. It includes USD-denominated securities publicly issued by US and non-US industrial, utility and financial issuers that have between 1 and up to, but not including, 10 years to maturity. The Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield Bond Index measures the USD-denominated, high yield, fixed-rate corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high yield if the middle rating of Moody's, Fitch and S&P is Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below. Bonds from issuers with an emerging markets country of risk, based on Bloomberg EM country definition, are excluded. The Bloomberg US Treasury Inflation-Linked Bond Index (TIPS Index) (Series-L) (“TIPS Index”) measures the performance of the US Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) market. Federal Reserve holdings of US TIPS are not index eligible and are excluded from the face amount outstanding of each bond in the index. The Russell 1000 Growth Index is a composite that includes large and mid-cap companies located in the United States that exhibit a growth probability. The Russell 1000 Value Index measures the performance of the large cap value segment of the US equity universe. The Russell 1000 Growth & Value Indices are subsets of the Russell 1000 Index. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (MCSI) is a monthly survey of consumer confidence levels in the United States conducted by the University of Michigan. The survey is based on telephone interviews that gather information on consumer expectations for the economy on topics such as the economy, personal finances, business conditions, and buying conditions.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold/Silver Index (XAU) is a capitalization-weighted index composed of companies involved in the gold or silver mining industry. The Alerian MLP Index is the leading gauge of energy infrastructure Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs). The capped, float-adjusted, capitalization-weighted index, whose constituents earn the majority of their cash flow from midstream activities involving energy commodities, is disseminated real-time on a price-return basis (AMZ) and on a total-return basis (AMZX). The HFRX Equal Weighted Strategies Index is designed to be representative of the overall composition of the hedge fund universe. It is comprised of all eligible hedge fund strategies; including but not limited to convertible arbitrage, equity hedge, equity market neutral, event driven, macro, merger arbitrage, and relative value arbitrage. The HFRX Equal Weighted Strategies Index applies an equal weight to all constituent strategy indices.
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