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- Stocks were mixed last week. We saw global markets (represented by the MSCI All Country World Index) up 0.4% and domestic stocks (represented by the S&P 500 Index) up 1.7%. Trailing the pack were international developed, emerging, and U.S. small companies, which were all negative for the week.
- Below are figures for the month of June and year-to-date through the end of June:
| *as of 6/30/2021 | June | YTD |
| MSCI All Country World Index (Global Stocks) | 1.3% | 12.3% |
| S&P 500 Index (U.S. Large Companies) | 2.3% | 15.3% |
| Russell 2000 Index (U.S. Small Companies) | 1.9% | 17.5% |
| MSCI EAFE (International Developed Stocks) | -1.1% | 8.83% |
| MSCI Emerging Markets (International Emerging Stocks) | 0.2% | 7.45% |
| Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index | 0.7% | -1.6% |
| Barclays Municipal Bond Index | 0.3% | 1.1% |
- In terms of what has been driving markets at a sector level, it has been energy (47.8% YTD), financials (26.5% YTD), and real estate (24.4% YTD). For the month of June, we saw a little bit of a reversal as information technology posted a 7.0% return.
- The June jobs report was released last Friday and showed a net gain of 850,000 new jobs. That exceeded the 700,000 expected and continues the run of job growth that we’ve seen over the last several months. Most of the gains were in leisure and hospitality, which still has plenty of room to recover from February 2020 levels.
- For the sixth week in a row, oil prices rose. The price is now above $75 per barrel.
- The financial sector continues to be a very healthy area in the economy. The U.S. Federal Reserve has stated that all 23 banks which took a stress test this year have passed. In response, many of the biggest banks are increasing their dividends to shareholders.
- The 10-year bond yield ended the quarter at 1.45%, which is down from the 1.74% yield at the end of Q1. With that said, the current level is still sizably higher than the 0.93% yield from the end of 2020.
- I’d like to leave you with the final line we’ve used since we started these commentaries back at the very height of market volatility in March 2020. Always remember that we create financial/investment plans not for the easy times, but to prepare for the tough ones.
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