October in Review: Cash and Commodities Shine in a Sea of Market Declines
2024.11.01 08:55
Global markets suffered a broad-based downturn in October. For the first time since April, a majority of the major asset classes posted monthly losses based on a set of ETF proxies. The upside outliers: cash and commodities.
Foreign real estate () led the losers last month. The hefty 6.9% slide in October follows three straight months of robust gains.
Stocks in the US () and in developed () and emerging markets () took a hit, too. The 0.8% decline in American shares ends a five-month winning streak.
Notably, US bonds did not provide a diversification benefit. Vanguard Total Bond Market (), a portfolio of government and investment-grade corporate bonds, tumbled 2.5% in October—the first monthly decline since April.
Commodities (GSG), by contrast, reversed a three-month run of losses with a 1.4% advance – the strongest performance last month for the major asset classes. Cash () also rose. Otherwise, October was dominated by red ink.
Year to date, most markets are still posting gains, led by US stocks (VTI) and US real estate investment trusts (VNQ). Losses for 2024 are limited to a variety of foreign bonds.
The winning streak for the Global Market Index (GMI) ended last month. After five straight monthly increases, GMI shed 2.1%. Year to date, the benchmark is still posting a strong 12.9% total return.
GMI is an unmanaged benchmark (maintained by CapitalSpectator.com) that holds all the major asset classes (except cash) in market-value weights via ETFs and represents a competitive benchmark for multi-asset-class portfolios.
For the one-year window, GMI continues to reflect a middling performance relative to US stocks (VTI) and US bonds (BND).
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