The Market Environment Is Improving Gradually
Inflation showed signs that it may have peaked in the fourth quarter, sparking broad rallies across stock and bond markets globally. Investors cheered lower oil prices, a weaker U.S. dollar, lower interest rates, and the prospect that monetary tightening by central banks was poised to slow. In this environment, non-U.S. markets outperformed during the quarter.
In the U.S., longer term interest rates declined as the Federal Reserve (Fed) communicated slowing the pace of rate increases, although longer-duration growth equities continued to underperform. The U.S. market underperformed most other markets during the quarter after being among the best performers in the third quarter.
Investment Partner
The commentary is the opinion of SGA. This material has been prepared using sources of information generally believed to be reliable; however, its accuracy is not guaranteed. Opinions represented are subject to change and should not be considered investment advice or an offer of securities.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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Index definitions: MSCI USA Index measures the performance of the large and mid cap segments of the U.S. market. MSCI AC Asia Pacific measures large and mid-cap equity performance of developed and emerging markets countries in the Asia Pacific region. MSCI All Country World (ACWI) measures equity performance of developed and emerging markets. MSCI EAFE® measures developed foreign market equity performance, excluding the U.S. and Canada. MSCI AC World ex U.S. measures equity performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding the U.S. MSCI Emerging Markets measures equity market performance in global emerging markets. MSCI Europe measures equity market performance of Europe’s developed markets. MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America measures equity performance of Latin America’s emerging market countries. Indexes are free float-adjusted market cap-weighted and calculated on a total return basis with dividends reinvested.