Recent Asset Class Performance

With equity markets closed today and now tomorrow as well due to Hurricane Sandy, there's obviously not much to report on regarding the market.  We can report on how things looked when the market closed last week, however, so below is an updated snapshot of our key ETF matrix which highlights the recent performance of various asset classes.

As shown, US equities (the left side of the matrix) have clearly struggled in October.  The only three areas of the market that are up month to date are the Financials, Utilities and Health Care sectors.  Things look quite a bit better for non-US equity ETFs though.  China (FXI) is up 6.73% on the month, while France (EWQ) and Italy (EWI) are both up more than 3%.

Commodities have had a rough go at this month as well.  Oil, Silver and Gold are all down quite a bit.  And while Treasury-related ETFs were up last week, they're also down on the month along with stocks.

Fortunately the year-to-date gains are still holding.  In the US, the Financial sector is up the most of any asset class with a gain of 21.54%.  Outside of the US, India (INP) and Mexico (EWW) have posted the largest gains at more than 23%.  Oil (USO) has been the worst performing asset class year to date with a decline of 16.58%.

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