The Markets — July 2014

After a rocky start, the quarter eventually made up for domestic equities’ earlier losses. As winter weather finally lost its chokehold on the U.S. economy, investors also grew increasingly comfortable with the Federal Reserve’s slow-and-steady approach to unwinding quantitative easing. As a result, they were willing to take on risk again, handing the Dow and S&P their 11th and 22nd all-time record closes of the year. As tech and biotech stocks rebounded from their early-spring slump, they helped push the Nasdaq back to a level it hadn’t seen since March 2000. By June, the small caps of the Russell 2000, which suffered the most in April, had managed to climb back into positive territory for the year, and the Global Dow’s year-to-date performance was more than triple that of its U.S. counterpart.

Bond investors continued to confound Fed-wary pundits, sending the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield down as demand pushed up prices. With Iraq joining Ukraine as a source of geopolitical anxiety, concern about oil supplies helped send the spot price above $107 a barrel. And despite some volatility that took the price of gold down to roughly $1,240 an ounce, a June rally allowed it to end the quarter at roughly $1,320.

Chart reflects price changes, not total return. Because it does not include dividends or splits, it should not be used to benchmark performance of specific investments.

Source: Broadridge