206 / 772
12
U.S. stocks rose by
0
.
5%
in April as investors reacted
favorably to generally decent macroeconomic news,
the Federal Reserve’s signal that interest-rate hikes
are further off, and some strong first-quarter earn-
ings reports, especially in the information-technology
sector. U.S. crude oil prices ended April at close to
$60
a barrel, up nicely from
$48
a barrel at the end of
March. Meanwhile, U.S. bond prices were basically
flat during April.
For the United States, the top-performing equity
sector was energy, which returned
6
.
0%
after U.S.
crude prices rose. That helped Gold-rated
Vanguard
Energy
VGENX
, which surged
10
.
4%
in April. The
telecommunications sector was strong, returning
4
.
4%
amid positive signs that
AT&T’
s
T
merger with
DirecTV
DTV
likely will be approved. The tech sector
rallied in the wake of strong earnings releases
from
Microsoft
MSFT
and
Apple
AAPL
. The weakest
sector was the health-care sector, which slid
3
.
2%
in April after strong March performance. Also weak
was the defensive consumer staples sector, which
returned negative
1
.
8%
.
Foreign stocks shone, both in developed and emerging
markets. The
MSCI
EAFE
Index gained
2
.
9%
for
the month, as stocks from the Asia-Pacific region did
especially well. The energy sector was the best-
performing
MSCI
EAFE
sector. The much bigger over-
seas story in April, however, was in emerging
markets, with the
MSCI
Emerging Markets Index
rallying close to
7%
, fueled in part by a Chinese
stock rally that came from an accommodating central
bank trying to stimulate a soft housing market.
Silver-rated
Matthews China
MCHFX
surged
10
.
4%
in April, while the broader, Silver-rated
DFA
Emerging Markets Value
DFEVX
returned close to
10%
. Emerging-markets strength was broad-based,
with stocks from Russia, Brazil, and Colombia return-
ing more than
16%
each.
K
ž
Total Return
%
Through
A N N U A L I Z E D
04-30-15
1Mo
YTD
3Yr
5Yr
10Yr
Benchmark Performance
Fed Signals Fuel Markets
Market Overview
|
Robert Goldsborough
Large Growth
0.0
3.4 15.3
13.6
8.8
Large Blend
0.6
1.8 15.5
12.8
7.7
Large Value
1.1
1.2 15.2
12.2
7.1
Mid-Cap Growth
-0.9
4.4 14.8
13.5
9.6
Mid-Cap Blend
-0.5
2.8 15.7
12.8
8.8
Mid-Cap Value
-0.2
2.3 16.5
12.8
8.9
Small Growth
-2.4
3.2 14.7
13.6
9.6
Small Blend
-1.8
1.7 14.7
12.2
8.7
Small Value
-1.1
1.2 14.4
11.0
8.4
Aggressive Allocation
1.0
3.3 11.3
9.6
6.6
Conservative Allocation
0.7
2.1
6.0
6.3
5.2
Moderate Allocation
0.7
2.5
9.7
8.8
6.4
Communications
3.4
5.6 13.0
11.4
6.5
Financial
1.3
1.7 15.2
8.4
3.4
Global Real Estate
0.1
4.2 10.8
9.8
5.7
Health
-2.5
7.9 29.2
22.0
13.5
Natural Resources
7.0
5.6
-0.2
1.8
6.4
Equity Precious Metals
9.4
5.2 -22.0 -14.8
2.8
Real Estate
-5.0
-0.9 10.0
12.2
7.6
Technology
0.6
3.6 15.1
13.1
10.4
Utilities
0.8
-1.5 12.0
11.6
8.6
S&P 500
1.0
1.9 16.7
14.2
8.3
S&P MidCap 400
-1.5
3.7 16.5
14.4
10.6
Russell 2000
-2.6
1.6 16.0
12.7
9.2
Diversified Pacific/Asia
4.3
12.0 11.2
7.5
7.2
Diversified Emerging Mkts
6.0
7.2
2.9
2.5
8.4
Europe Stock
3.6
8.6 11.7
8.6
6.7
Foreign Large Blend
3.9
8.8
9.8
6.8
5.6
Foreign Large Growth
3.4
8.6
9.7
7.9
6.4
Foreign Large Value
4.6
8.9
9.9
6.2
4.8
Foreign Small/Mid Growth
4.1
9.6 11.8
10.4
8.6
Foreign Small/Mid Value
5.7
10.5 11.4
7.6
6.5
World Stock
2.2
5.1 12.1
9.8
7.2
MSCI World
2.3
4.7 13.5
10.5
6.9
MSCI Emerging Markets
6.9
9.1
2.6
2.3
8.7
MSCI EAFE
3.6
9.3 10.9
7.4
5.4
MSCI Europe
4.3
7.9 11.8
7.9
5.6
MSCI Latin America
9.9
-1.3 -11.8
-8.2
6.4
MSCI Pacific
3.7
11.6 10.2
6.7
5.7
High Yield Bond
1.2
3.4
6.5
7.3
7.0
Inflation-Protected Bond
0.7
1.8
-0.5
2.9
3.5
Intermediate-Term Bond
-0.2
1.3
3.0
4.3
4.5
Muni National Long
-0.6
0.5
3.7
4.9
4.1
World Bond
0.6
0.1
1.5
3.2
4.1
BarCap US Agg Bond TR USD
-0.3
1.2
2.6
4.0
4.5
BofAML US HY Master II TR
1.2
3.8
7.5
8.2
8.3
BarCap Municipal TR USD
-0.5
0.5
3.5
4.7
4.6