Despite the uncertainty of the US Presidential election, risk assets rallied sharply during the fourth quarter of 2020. Across domestic indices, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial, and Nasdaq Composite rose 12%, 10.7%, and 15.7% respectively in the quarter. International and emerging markets performed even better with the MSCI world and MSCI emerging markets indices rising 14% and 19.6% respectively.
Stocks broadly advanced in the third quarter of 2020. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial, and Nasdaq Composite gained 8.9%, 8.2% and 11.2% respectively during the period ending September 30th. Global markets advanced as well with the MSCI Emerging Market Index rising 9.6% and the MSCI World advancing 8.1%.
The second quarter of 2020 produced historic gains for the broad stock indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Index rose 18.5% during the quarter, the largest quarterly gain since 1987 while the Nasdaq rose 30.9% for its largest quarterly advance since 1999. S&P 500 closed the quarter up 20.5% for its best quarter since 1998.
US treasury yields were largely unchanged in 2Q of 2020. Yields from the 1-month tenor to the 2-year tenor hovered around 12-15bps. The 10-year UST yield stayed constant at 0.66%, while the yield on the 30-year UST rose 9bps to 1.41%. The Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond index appreciated 2.9% in the second quarter. US High
Quarterly Commentary is a quarterly view of the equities, fixed income and hedge fund markets from our Family Management specialists.