398 / 772
12
A mini panic in China caused stocks to crater in
August. Despite a modest end-of-month recovery, the
S
&
P
500
still slid
6%
for the month. Most believe
that the rout was fueled by investor angst over the
devaluation of China’s currency and broader concerns
about slowing growth in that nation. Other factors
also weighing on investor sentiment included weaker
commodity prices and further instability in Greece.
For much of August, energy prices were down, but
they staged an impressive rally in the month’s
final days. For the entire month, the Brent Crude oil
spot price actually rose slightly. For the month,
energy funds were down
4%
. The biggest decliners
were health-care funds, which slid
8%
, and finan-
cials funds, which fell
6
.
6%
.
Emerging-markets stocks were pummeled the most
in August, with the
MSCI
Emerging Markets Index
declining
9%
. Although Greek stocks, which make
up a small fraction of the index (
0
.
27%
), were hit
the hardest—declining a whopping
35%
—the pain
was broad-based. China and Brazil fell
15%
and
11%
, respectively.
DFA Emerging Markets Value
DFEVX
,
a broad-based emerging-markets fund with a
Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver, fell
9%
in August.
Meanwhile, U.S. bond prices were basically flat for
the month, as longer-duration bond yields rose slightly
and shorter-duration bond yields were a mixed bag.
The Barclays
US
Aggregate Bond Index was down
slightly for the month, while the Barclays U.S.
20
+
Year Treasury Bond Index was flat.
K
Contact Robert at
robert.goldsborough@morningstar.comTotal Return
%
Through
A N N U A L I Z E D
08-31-15
1Mo YTD 3Yr
5Yr
10Yr
Benchmark Performance
China Spurs a Sell-Off
Market Overview
|
Robert Goldsborough
Large Growth
-6.4 0.2 14.6 15.7 7.4
Large Blend
-6.1 -3.5 13.3 14.3 6.4
Large Value
-6.0 -5.3 12.5 13.3 5.7
Mid-Cap Growth
-6.2 0.3 14.4 15.2 7.8
Mid-Cap Blend
-5.1 -2.9 14.1 14.4 6.9
Mid-Cap Value
-4.9 -3.8 14.4 14.5 7.0
Small Growth
-7.0 0.5 14.4 16.2 7.8
Small Blend
-5.3 -3.6 13.1 14.4 6.7
Small Value
-4.3 -5.0 12.6 13.4 6.4
Aggressive Allocation
-5.4 -3.0 9.0 10.1 5.2
Conservative Allocation
-2.7 -1.8 4.2 6.0 4.4
Moderate Allocation
-4.2 -2.4 7.8 9.0 5.4
Communications
-4.7 0.0 9.2 10.2 4.6
Financial
-5.6 -1.3 14.7 11.9 2.4
Global Real Estate
-5.7 -4.5 6.4 8.4 3.8
Health
-8.3 9.6 28.2 25.3 12.5
Natural Resources
-4.9 -14.3 -5.0 0.4 1.8
Equity Precious Metals
2.7 -20.0 -28.9 -20.3 -1.4
Real Estate
-5.8 -6.2 7.2 11.6 5.9
Technology
-6.3 -1.9 14.3 14.5 8.4
Utilities
-4.7 -8.9 8.7 10.3 6.6
S&P 500
-6.1 -2.9 14.2 15.8 7.1
S&P MidCap 400
-5.6 -1.5 15.1 16.1 8.7
Russell 2000
-6.3 -3.0 14.2 15.6 7.1
Diversified Pacific/Asia
-7.7 -1.3 8.0 6.2 5.1
Diversified Emerging Mkts
-8.7 -12.0 -1.7 -0.9 4.9
Europe Stock
-6.1 2.5 10.3 8.6 5.1
Foreign Large Blend
-7.1 -0.8 7.2 6.2 3.8
Foreign Large Growth
-7.1 -0.1 7.7 7.2 4.6
Foreign Large Value
-6.8 -1.2 7.0 5.9 2.8
Foreign Small/Mid Growth
-4.9 4.3 10.9 10.4 6.6
Foreign Small/Mid Value
-4.9 1.9 10.1 7.8 4.6
World Stock
-6.4 -2.2 10.3 10.2 5.5
MSCI World
-6.6 -2.4 10.9 11.1 5.4
MSCI Emerging Markets
-8.8 -13.2 -3.0 -1.4 4.5
MSCI EAFE
-7.4 0.2 8.3 7.0 3.7
MSCI Europe
-7.1 -0.6 8.8 7.5 4.1
MSCI Latin America
-10.7 -24.6 -16.6 -12.3 1.3
MSCI Pacific
-7.8 0.3 8.0 6.3 3.8
High Yield Bond
-1.7 0.2 4.2 6.4 6.1
Inflation-Protected Bond
-1.0 -0.9 -2.0 1.9 3.1
Intermediate-Term Bond
-0.4 0.1 1.7 3.2 4.2
Muni National Long
0.2 0.6 2.7 4.1 4.0
World Bond
-0.9 -3.1 -0.4 1.8 3.7
BarCap US Agg Bond TR USD -0.3 0.2 1.4 2.8 4.2
BofAML US HY Master II TR -1.8 0.1 4.9 7.1 7.3
BarCap Municipal TR USD
0.2 1.0 2.8 4.0 4.5