Global markets did well for the fist half of 2017. Of all the emerging and developed markets tracked by MSCI, only 3 ended the first six months of 2017 in the red. You had to try really hard to lose money in the past six months. In turn, it’s markets like these that can make people think they’re smarter than they really are.
I thought I’d try something different than the past six month updates. Usually, I post the updated charts – asset class, S&P sector, international, and emerging markets – with added context (click the link for interactive charts or grab a download here), but it leaves out about half the data I collect. This time I’m including all of it in one table ranked by total return.
A few quick comments about the data:
- As stated already, only three countries finished the first half in the red – Pakistan, Qatar, and Russia
- Pakistan was newly reclassified as Emerging (from Frontier), added in June this year, and had a great run prior to being added
- 34 countries outperformed the S&P 500 (12 countries underperformed the S&P 500)
- The same 34 countries had double-digit returns
- The US – MSCI, S&P 500, Russell 2000, and REITs – had positive single digit returns
- Of the S&P sectors, two – Telecoms and Energy – finished worse than 10% losses
- Two S&P sectors – Tech and Healthcare – finished with better than 15% gains
If anything, the data shows how important a globally diversified portfolio can be.
The table includes global emerging and international market total returns, along with US sector and equity asset class total returns through 6/30/17.
