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Stocks suffered another punishing month in September
as investors were spooked by continued slowing
in economic growth in China and fears of the same in
other emerging markets. Strong U.S. economic
reports—including a healthy consumer and a decision
by the Federal Reserve to hold off on an interest-
rate hike for now—weren’t enough to overcome fears
of global economic weakness spilling into the United
States. In addition, several U.S. sectors that have led
past rallies—including the health-care sector—
suffered particular pain in September.
Energy prices experienced another tough month in
September, with the Brent Crude oil spot price
falling
10%
to
$48
a barrel. As a result, energy funds
slid
7
.
7%
for the month. Weak commodity prices
also weighed on basic-materials funds, which fell
7
.
8%
. A variety of factors pressured health-care
stocks in September, which fell
6
.
6%
amid pressure
from politicians’ comments about drug pricing—
including calling for a subpoena of
Valeant Pharma-
ceuticals
VRX
—and broader concerns about
slowing growth in China and other regions outside
the United States. Biotechnology stocks were
hammered the most by lawmakers’ invective.
The
MSCI
EAFE
Index declined more than
4%
as
German stocks were pressured by the
VW
emissions
scandal and British stocks fell, owing to concerns
over whether mining firms
Glencore
GLEN
and
Anglo
American
AAL
can survive with metal prices
remaining in their slump.
The U.S. bond market was up slightly in September
as investors migrated to riskless investments. The Bar-
clays
US
Aggregate Bond Index was up slightly for
the month. Long-dated government bonds did particu-
larly well, as the Barclays U.S.
20
+Year Treasury Bond
Index gained more than
1%
amid falling bond yields.
K
Contact Robert at
robert.goldsborough@morningstar.comTotal Return
%
Through
A N N U A L I Z E D
09-30-15
1Mo YTD 3Yr
5Yr
10Yr
Benchmark Performance
A Difficult September
Market Overview
|
Robert Goldsborough
Large Growth
-3.2 -2.9 12.5 12.6 7.0
Large Blend
-3.0 -6.5 11.3 11.7 6.0
Large Value
-3.3 -8.4 10.3 10.8 5.3
Mid-Cap Growth
-4.4 -4.2 12.0 11.7 7.1
Mid-Cap Blend
-4.2 -6.9 11.7 11.2 6.4
Mid-Cap Value
-4.1 -7.7 12.0 11.3 6.5
Small Growth
-5.6 -5.2 11.2 12.1 7.0
Small Blend
-4.3 -7.7 10.4 10.9 6.1
Small Value
-4.0 -8.8 10.1 10.2 5.9
Aggressive Allocation
-2.9 -5.9 7.2 7.8 4.7
Conservative Allocation
-1.4 -3.2 3.3 4.9 4.1
Moderate Allocation
-2.1 -4.4 6.4 7.3 5.1
Communications
-4.5 -4.5 6.2 7.2 4.0
Financial
-2.9 -4.1 12.4 9.7 2.1
Global Real Estate
0.7 -3.9 5.7 6.8 3.8
Health
-8.9 -0.2 22.7 20.7 11.4
Natural Resources
-8.9 -21.9 -8.9 -3.2 0.2
Equity Precious Metals
-3.5 -22.8 -32.4 -22.1 -3.2
Real Estate
2.3 -4.1 8.6 11.2 6.2
Technology
-2.3 -4.0 12.9 11.2 7.8
Utilities
-1.4 -10.2 7.3 8.9 6.1
S&P 500
-2.5 -5.3 12.4 13.2 6.7
S&P MidCap 400
-3.2 -4.7 13.1 12.9 8.3
Russell 2000
-4.9 -7.8 11.1 11.8 6.6
Diversified Pacific/Asia
-3.2 -4.5 5.5 3.6 4.1
Diversified Emerging Mkts
-2.6 -14.4 -4.1 -3.4 3.8
Europe Stock
-3.3 -1.0 7.9 5.8 4.6
Foreign Large Blend
-4.2 -5.0 4.6 3.3 2.9
Foreign Large Growth
-3.2 -3.4 5.4 4.4 3.9
Foreign Large Value
-4.5 -5.7 4.3 2.9 2.0
Foreign Small/Mid Growth
-2.9 1.3 8.3 7.3 6.0
Foreign Small/Mid Value
-3.2 -1.2 7.4 4.8 3.9
World Stock
-3.4 -5.5 7.9 7.4 4.9
MSCI World
-3.7 -6.0 8.6 8.3 4.7
MSCI Emerging Markets
-3.1 -15.9 -5.6 -4.2 3.4
MSCI EAFE
-4.4 -4.2 5.8 4.0 2.9
MSCI Europe
-4.7 -5.2 6.0 4.3 3.3
MSCI Latin America
-7.9 -30.5 -19.8 -15.4 -1.0
MSCI Pacific
-5.8 -5.5 4.8 3.5 2.3
High Yield Bond
-2.4 -2.2 2.9 5.2 5.9
Inflation-Protected Bond
-0.8 -1.7 -2.5 1.5 3.1
Intermediate-Term Bond
0.3 0.3 1.6 3.1 4.3
Muni National Long
0.7 1.3 2.7 4.2 4.1
World Bond
-0.5 -3.6 -0.9 1.2 3.8
BarCap US Agg Bond TR USD 0.8 1.0 1.6 3.0 4.4
BofAML US HY Master II TR -2.6 -2.5 3.5 5.9 7.1
BarCap Municipal TR USD
0.7 1.8 2.9 4.1 4.6