Investment Review - March 2024
- Equity indices climbed again in February and now have made gains in four consecutive months. The Dow Jones grew by 2.2%, the NASDAQ advanced 6.1% and the S&P 500 increased 5.2%. New highs are accompanying these moves and the S&P 500 is trading above 5,000.
- As the Federal Reserve has sought to rein in expectations for interest rate reductions, yields on bonds rose in February. The yield on the 2-year Treasury increased by 0.41% while the 10-year Treasury yield was higher by 0.29%. When yields rise, bond prices decline. Fixed income returns trailed those for equities during the month.
- The returns for the market capitalization weighted S&P 500 continue to be disproportionately driven by the larger weighted technology and related stocks in the index. In contrast to the 6.8% advance for the index year to date through the end of February, an equal weighted version of the S&P 500 is up approximately 3.2% for the year.
Key Investment Statistics
Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones Publishing, Bloomberg, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Federal Reserve, Yardeni Research
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