The asset class, sector, international, and emerging markets quilts are up-to-date for the first quarter of 2025. You can find interactive versions of each here:
You can also download copies here or grab the images below.
I’ll have a deeper dive into the data next week. So far, the lesson this year is diversification. You can see this within indexes, like the S&P 500, or in a more broad portfolio allocation.
For example, the S&P 500 lost 4.6% in the first three months (4.3% when you include dividends). Only 39% of the S&P’s component stocks performed worse than the index. 46% had a positive return through March.
The Mag 7, the biggest companies in the index — all tech and praised last year — collectively averaged an 18.4% loss (ranging from -1.6% to -35.8%) and led the decline in the Info Tech and Communication Services sectors. While Energy, Consumer Staples, Utilities, Real Estate, Financials. and Materials sectors were positive. Consumer Discretionary was the other standout loser.
Interestingly, the next seven biggest stocks in the S&P, just below the Mag 7, outperformed the index, with one exception – a tech company (Broadcom). The other six are in the Financial, Healthcare, Energy, and Consumer Staples sector. Five of those six had gains, with three having double-digit gains for the quarter.
More broadly, U.S. small caps were the other asset class with a loss to start the year. International and emerging markets were positive and led the way, followed by high-grade bonds and REITs.
So, once again, it paid to be diversified. More on this next week.
