12
The markets dipped and rebounded in February amid
concerns over the upcoming sequester and sug-
gestions that the Federal Reserve will end monetary
easing sooner than expected. The S
&
P
500
gained
1
.
36%
by the end of the month, while the Russell
2000
followed with a
1
.
10%
return.
A handful of sectors were flat or down, but concerns
over ending
QE3
meant precious-metals and min-
ing stocks were especially hard-hit. The typical equity
precious-metals stock fund dropped
10
.
64%
.
Van-
guard Precious Metals and Mining
VGPMX
lost
7
.
50%
, while
Oppenheimer Gold & Special
Minerals
OPGSX
shed
11
.
56%
. Natural-resources
stock funds with exposure to precious-metals
and mining holdings, like
T. Rowe Price New Era
PRNEX
, also got stung. That fund lost
0
.
41%
.
Both developed and emerging markets were hurt in
February. The
MSCI
EAFE
Index lost
0
.
92%
by month-
end, while the
MSCI
Emerging Markets Index drop-
ped
1
.
24%
in comparison. The Chinese stock market
suffered a tumble related to concerns about the
central bank withdrawing liquidity from the market.
China-region stock funds dropped
2
.
25%
on average.
Matthews China Investor
MCHFX
lost
3
.
42%
.
The Japanese stock market did well in February after
new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank
of Japan committed to take steps to revitalize the
economy. The
MSCI
Japan Index gained
3
.
11%
,
and the Japan-stock category was one of the best-
performing equity categories with a
2
.
67%
climb.
Taxable bonds outperformed municipal bonds this
month. The intermediate-term bond category
gained
0
.
47%
, compared with a
0
.
35%
for the inter-
mediate-term municipal bonds.
PIMCO Total
Return
PTTRX
eked out a
0
.
55%
return for the month.
Long-term government-bond funds were the best-
performing bond category with a
1
.
43%
gain.
œ
Total Return
%
Through
A N N U A L I Z E D
02-28-13
1Mo YTD 3Yr
5Yr
10Yr
Benchmark Performance
Bullishness Gets Sequestered
Market Overview
|
Kailin Liu
Large Growth
0.7 5.4 11.5 4.1 7.2
Large Blend
1.1 6.5 11.5 3.7 7.4
Large Value
1.1 7.0 11.4 3.2 7.6
Mid-Cap Growth
0.8 7.0 13.4 4.9 9.5
Mid-Cap Blend
1.1 7.7 13.2 5.7 10.0
Mid-Cap Value
1.4 8.2 13.3 6.1 10.2
Small Growth
1.0 7.1 14.2 6.1 9.8
Small Blend
1.2 7.5 13.9 6.5 10.6
Small Value
1.3 7.7 13.8 7.3 10.9
Aggressive Allocation
0.3 4.3 9.4 3.4 7.4
Conservative Allocation
0.3 2.0 7.5 4.5 5.4
Moderate Allocation
0.4 3.5 8.9 3.9 6.6
Communications
-0.9 2.7 12.5 2.9 9.5
Financials
1.0 7.6 8.0 -0.7 4.3
Global Real Estate
0.2 3.0 13.7 1.9 11.1
Health
1.3 9.0 15.0 9.4 10.4
Natural Resources
-2.5 1.5 3.8 -4.0 10.9
Precious Metals
-10.6 -17.5 -3.8 -4.9 11.3
Real Estate
0.7 3.9 18.5 5.8 11.4
Technology
0.3 4.3 10.7 6.5 9.4
Utilities
1.5 6.1 12.9 3.1 11.3
S&P 500
1.4 6.6 13.5 4.9 8.2
S&P MidCap 400
1.0 8.3 16.0 8.6 12.0
Russell 2000
1.1 7.4 14.7 7.4 11.2
Diversified Asia/Pac. Stock
1.4 4.0 7.0 0.0 10.5
Diversified Emerg. Mkts.
-0.9 0.7 6.0 -0.9 15.3
Europe Stock
-2.0 2.5 6.9 -2.1 9.8
Foreign Large Blend
-1.0 2.7 6.7 -1.6 8.7
Foreign Large Growth
-0.9 2.6 8.0 -0.5 9.4
Foreign Large Value
-1.9 2.3 5.4 -1.9 8.7
Foreign Small/Mid Growth
0.9 4.4 11.0 1.6 13.7
Foreign Small/Mid Value
0.4 5.1 9.4 0.7 11.1
World Stock
-0.1 4.5 9.0 1.4 9.1
MSCI EAFE
-1.0 4.3 6.9 -1.3 9.4
MSCI World
0.2 5.3 9.8 1.6 8.6
MSCI Emerging Markets
-1.4 -0.1 4.1 -2.0 14.1
MSCI Europe
-2.8 2.9 7.1 -2.0 9.6
MSCI Latin America
-2.9 0.7 -0.7 -3.1 20.0
MSCI Pacific
2.5 6.9 6.8 0.4 9.0
High-Yield Bond
0.4 1.8 10.6 8.5 8.2
Inflation-Protected Bond
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Intermediate-Term Bond
0.0 -0.5 7.2 4.6 5.0
Muni National Long
0.3 0.9 6.8 6.6 4.5
World Bond
-0.7 -1.1 5.2 4.7 5.6
BarCap US Agg Bond TR USD 0.5 -0.2 5.5 5.5 5.0
BofAML US HY Master II TR 0.5 1.8 11.7 11.0 10.1
BarCap Municipal TR USD
0.3 0.7 6.3 6.8 5.1
