(PUB) Investing 2015

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The markets sold off in the first half of December only
to rally in the second half after Janet Yellen, chair
of the Federal Reserve, announced she would take a
patient approach toward raising interest rates. The
U.S. government revised third-quarter gross domestic
product up to 5%. Oil prices slid to a five-year low.
Small caps performed well, rallying almost 3% in
December, while mid-caps and large caps were about
flat. Utilities led the way, with Franklin Utilities
FKUTX up 2.7% . Telecom had a rough month: Verizon
VZ and AT&T T had losses on concerns that mounting
competition has impaired wireless business’ attrac-
tiveness. T. Rowe Price Media & Telecommunica-
tions PRMTX fell 3.6% during the month. Sinking
commodity prices contributed to nearly 10% drops at
Harbor Commodity Real Return HACMX and
PIMCO Commodity Real Return PCRDX.
International developed equities, as measured by
the MSCI EAFE Index, retreated 3.5%. Portugal, Italy,
and Spain led the declines, with a depreciating euro
compounding the losses. The MSCI Emerging Markets
Index tumbled 4.6% , as Russia and Brazil suffered
double-digit declines because of low oil prices. Janus
Overseas JAOSX, a foreign-stock fund with more
than 40% of its assets in emerging markets, dropped
about 7% and underperformed all foreign developed-
markets funds in the M500 .
The yield curve flattened during the month: The
30-year Treasury yield fell 14 basis points, the 10-year
rate held about steady, and the yield on three-year
Treasuries jumped 22 basis points. So, long-duration
securities rallied and short-term bonds struggled.
The Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index finished the
month flat, while high-yield bonds and emerging-
markets debt slid 1.5% and 2.9%, respectively. œ
Contact Leo Acheson at
Total Return % Through A N N U A L I Z E D
12-31-14 1Mo YTD 3Yr 5Yr 10Yr
Benchmark Performance Fed Comments Push Equities to
All-Time Highs
Market Overview | Leo Acheson Large Growth -0.7 10.0 19.4 14.1 7.7
Large Blend -0.3 11.0 19.0 13.9 7.0
Large Value 0.0 10.2 18.3 13.5 6.6
Mid-Cap Growth 0.0 7.0 18.2 14.8 8.3
Mid-Cap Blend 0.3 7.8 19.0 14.8 7.9
Mid-Cap Value 0.6 9.3 19.9 15.0 8.1
Small Growth 2.0 2.4 18.1 15.5 8.0
Small Blend 1.9 3.8 17.8 14.6 7.5
Small Value 2.0 3.3 17.7 14.0 7.4
Aggressive Allocation -1.0 5.7 13.5 10.1 5.9
Conservative Allocation -0.9 4.0 7.1 6.8 4.8
Moderate Allocation -0.7 6.2 11.7 9.4 5.9
Communications -3.5 0.7 13.3 10.4 4.8
Financial 0.1 4.9 20.3 10.4 2.5
Global Real Estate -0.5 11.7 14.6 9.9 4.9
Health 0.5 27.2 31.3 21.6 12.4
Natural Resources -2.4 -12.5 -0.4 1.5 5.9
Equity Precious Metals 0.5 -10.0 -25.2 -14.0 0.8
Real Estate 1.6 28.0 15.2 16.2 7.5
Technology -0.8 12.5 19.7 13.6 8.5
Utilities 0.2 17.1 13.9 12.1 9.0
S&P 500 -0.3 13.6 20.4 15.4 7.6
S&P MidCap 400 0.8 9.8 20.0 16.5 9.7
Russell 2000 2.9 5.0 19.3 15.6 7.8
Diversified Pacific/Asia -2.2 0.2 11.0 5.8 5.8
Diversified Emerging Mkts -4.8 -3.0 4.7 1.8 7.6
Europe Stock -3.3 -7.3 12.9 6.5 5.7
Foreign Large Blend -3.5 -5.0 10.2 5.0 4.5
Foreign Large Growth -3.2 -3.9 10.8 6.1 5.1
Foreign Large Value -3.8 -6.3 9.4 4.3 3.5
Foreign Small/Mid Growth -1.6 -5.4 13.6 9.6 7.6
Foreign Small/Mid Value -1.7 -6.6 12.4 6.8 5.4
World Stock -1.7 2.8 14.1 9.5 6.2
MSCI EAFE -4.0 -6.2 10.6 5.1 4.2
MSCI World -1.6 4.9 15.5 10.2 6.0
MSCI Emerging Markets -4.0 -3.9 3.3 0.8 7.6
MSCI Europe -4.3 -6.2 11.9 5.3 4.6
MSCI Latin America -9.3 -14.8 -8.9 -7.9 6.3
MSCI Pacific -1.8 -2.7 9.6 5.7 4.2
High Yield Bond -1.7 1.1 7.4 7.9 6.3
Inflation-Protected Bond -1.4 1.8 -0.2 3.2 3.5
Intermediate-Term Bond -0.2 5.2 3.4 4.8 4.4
Muni National Long 0.7 10.6 4.9 5.3 4.2
World Bond -1.0 1.7 2.6 3.6 4.0
BarCap US Agg Bond TR USD 0.1 6.0 2.5 4.3 4.5
BofAML US HY Master II TR -1.5 2.5 8.4 8.9 7.6
BarCap Municipal TR USD 0.5 9.1 4.3 5.2 4.7