In the interest of the upcoming Easter and current Passover holidays today’s edition will be quick. Similar to the 1st Quarter of 2021 which seemed to FLY BY!
Market – and my clients’ portfolio – performance was strong to start the year. There is caution in the air, however, as 10-year US Treasury yields climbed to levels not seen since early 2020 before the pandemic began. The swiftness of the rise in bond yields warrants caution in the overall stock and bond markets.
With this said, rising stock prices are a good thing! In the spirit of “buy straw hats in winter” (read: pay attention in order to be prepared for the future) rebalancing portfolios is a prudent action at this time.
Below are back-of-the-envelope returns* for 1st Quarter of 2021 for the major US stock averages. Note that technology and high-growth stocks cooled down in the 1st Quarter while small-company stocks (as measured by the Russell 2000) healthily beat all the major indexes.
- Dow Jones: UP 7.76%
- Nasdaq: UP 2.78%
- S&P 500: UP 5.78%
- Russell 2000: UP 12.86%
The 10-year US Treasury began 2021 yielding 0.91% and went out the 1st Quarter yielding 1.74%, still super-low for a 10-year bond but a near double in yield – which is HUGE.
As always, please reach out with any questions about particular situations and the “art” of goal setting amidst market records. Also, with the IRS extension for 2020 tax filings, please reach out to talk tax strategy and diversification of tax treatment of assets.
*WSJ. Market Data. 3/31/2021.
Happy Easter and Passover! Thank you for reading, stay safe and TGIF!