Monthly Notes
May ended on a down note for our domestic equity markets but
the S&P 500 was still able to post better than average returns with a gain
of 2.34%.
With the rise in interest rates, the average
intermediate-term bond fund had a difficult month and the average sector
performance has now slipped into negative territory for the calendar year.
Also soured by a rise in interest rates was the real estate
sector. The average real estate fund
lost 5.46% of its value in May.
Emerging markets continue to struggle which has weighed down
the average emerging markets fund for most of 2013. China continues to confuse analysts and Latin
America continued to slide.
May showed signs that a rotation may be under way from the
defensive stocks towards more cyclical areas such as technology and financials. Both consumer staples and utilities, on
average, lost value in May. The average
utility fund lost 5.48% of its value while the average technology fund gained
4.5% and the average financial fund gained 3.54%. June will be interesting because utility
stocks have clearly been the best performing sector in June over the last 25
years.
|
As of the close on
05-31-13
|
May
|
YTD
|
|
S&P 500 Index Total
Return
|
2.34%
|
15.37%
|
|
Asset Class Category
Average Performance
|
||
|
Intermediate-Term Bond
|
-1.65%
|
-0.25%
|
|
Domestic Large Cap Value
|
2.43%
|
16.11%
|
|
Domestic Mid Cap Value
|
2.89%
|
16.95%
|
|
Domestic Small Cap Value
|
4.12%
|
16.12%
|
|
Foreign Large Cap Value
|
-1.99%
|
6.14%
|
|
Foreign Small/Mid Cap
Value
|
-1.56%
|
8.11%
|
|
Domestic Large Cap Growth
|
2.63%
|
13.04%
|
|
Domestic Mid Cap Growth
|
3.04%
|
14.49%
|
|
Domestic Small Cap Growth
|
4.57%
|
15.82%
|
|
Foreign Large Cap Growth
|
-1.29%
|
5.12%
|
|
Diversified Emerging
Markets
|
-2.26%
|
-1.23%
|
|
Gold & Precious
Metals Equities
|
-3.85%
|
-34.56%
|
|
Real Estate
|
-5.46%
|
6.94%
|
|
Broad Basket Commodities
|
-2.03%
|
-6.84%
|
|
Sector Category Average
Performance
|
||
|
Technology
|
4.50%
|
11.28%
|
|
Consumer Discretionary
|
2.83%
|
18.17%
|
|
Financials
|
3.54%
|
17.15%
|
|
Telecommunications
|
-1.95%
|
8.61%
|
|
Industrials
|
4.93%
|
16.71%
|
|
Utilities
|
-5.48%
|
10.09%
|
|
Natural Resources
|
0.41%
|
0.38%
|
|
Real Estate
|
-5.46%
|
6.94%
|
|
Health Care
|
2.28%
|
23.18%
|
|
Consumer Staples
|
-0.94%
|
15.07%
|
|
Energy
|
0.96%
|
11.79%
|
|
Regions
|
||
|
Europe Stock
|
0.69%
|
6.39%
|
|
China Region
|
0.61%
|
0.40%
|
|
Japan Stock
|
-7.70%
|
15.95%
|
|
Latin America
|
-7.17%
|
-6.18%
|
Jon R. Orcutt is the founder of Allocation For Life, Author of The Allocation For Life Investment Newsletter, Author of "Master The Markets With Mutual Funds: A Common Sense Guide To Investing Success" and manager/creator of the AFL Models available to Allocation For Life subscribers at Folio Investing.
