Market Recap – April 2012

Weakening economic data and renewed anxiety about Europe brought equities’ winning streak to an end in April. The small-cap Russell 2000 lagged its domestic peers, while the Nasdaq, which had been handily outperforming this year, had to battle a downdraft in Apple stock, one of the index’s key components. The Dow managed to finish April basically flat, followed by the S&P 500, which couldn’t quite manage to end the month above 1,400. The Global Dow was hurt by renewed concerns about slowing growth in China as well as Spain’s economy and borrowing costs.

Those concerns and a lack of Fed interest in boosting interest rates helped drive 10-year Treasury yields back below 2%. Despite Spain’s problems, the euro stabilized a bit to end the month at $1.32, and oil prices stayed between $101 and $104 a barrel. And after a rough start, gold bounced back to end the month with a slight loss at roughly $1,660 an ounce.

*Equities data reflect price changes, not total return.