All The Major Asset Classes Now Posting Gains Year To Date

Commodities have joined the party. After last week’s rally that lifted a broad measure of commodities, all the major asset classes are now posting gains for the year to date through Friday’s close (July 28), based on a set of ETFs.

WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity Strategy Fund (GCC) rose 1.5% in the past trading week. The gain marks the ETF’s fourth straight weekly advance, a boost that lifted the fund in positive terrain for year-to-date results, albeit fractionally, for the first time since April. Several other broadly defined commodity ETFs are also posting year-to-date gains, including iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG), which is up 1.0% in 2023.

Higher energy prices have been a key driver of recent strength in broad commodity indexes. Crude oil (USO), for instance, is on track to record its biggest monthly gain in more than a year.

“Oil prices are up 18% since mid-June as record-high demand and Saudi supply cuts have brought back deficits, and as the market has abandoned its growth pessimism,” note analysts at Goldman Sachs in a research note published July 30.

The renewed strength in commodities translates into across-the-board gains for the major asset classes. One thing that hasn’t changed: US stocks continue to lead global markets by a wide margin.

Vanguard Total US Stock Market Index Fund (VTI) has rallied 20.0% this year. Last week’s 1.0% gain for the ETF is the third straight increase, lifting the fund to its highest close since January 2022.

The Global Market Index (GMI) is also enjoying a strong year-to-date performance. GMI is up 14.6% through Friday’s close, a sizzling gain for a multi-asset class benchmark. This unmanaged index (maintained by CapitalSpectator.com) holds all the major asset classes (except cash) in market value weights and represents a competitive benchmark for multi-asset class portfolios.

This year’s broad-based rally in markets suggests that most investment strategies are sitting on handsome gains too, in no small part due to a solid tailwind. For strategies that are underperforming or underwater, the likely explanation is bad luck or incompetence. Any active strategy can suffer in relative and/or absolute terms, but it takes extraordinary effort to stumble at a time when everything’s rallying.

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Editor’s Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.