Where the returns are made

Market commentators have been briefly declaring the entering of a new bull market yesterday with the S&P 500 now up 20% from its lows in October 2022. To us this is a good time for an update on where the returns were made so far in 2023 in global financial markets (in USD) and provide some historical perspective. Up to the end of May, US equities were the clear winners up 9.8% driven by a handful of big tech companies. European equities have also rebounded followed by Japan. Chinese equities, commodities and REITs have shown negative results. How does the picture look  longer term ? On a 10 year annualized basis, US equities are the clear winners while European equities have underperformed by 6.6% per year! At ECP, we continue to believe that equities remain a crucial building block in the long term asset allocation for our investors.