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April was dominated by rapid-fire information flow, leading some markets to react dramatically. Case in point: gold market participants fled from their positions as the threat of Zimbabwean-style inflation dissipated for the U.S. dollar. While action in the gold markets made for good conversation around the water cooler, the other markets we follow continued their upward grind, pushing U.S. markets to reach new all-time highs once again.

  1. The MSCI World Index, a broad measure of developed world’s stock markets, advanced 2.90 percent.
  2. The S&P 500, a measure of large U.S. companies, rose 1.81 percent.
  3. The MSCI Emerging Market Index, a broad measure of the emerging world’s stock markets, rose 0.66 percent.
  4. The S&P REIT Index rose 6.55 percent.
  5. Gold declined 7.53 percent during the month.

The speed with which information and resulting actions propagate throughout markets can be dizzying. Recent research has found that as cities become more congested, people actually move faster within them. When applied to virtual communities like Twitter or investment markets, you begin to see a situation where things happen so quickly there's no time to think, only react. We saw this with the gold market over two days of trading when the price of gold dropped by more than $213 per ounce. Markets also reacted quickly to a fake tweet from the Associated Press' hacked Twitter account.

The ersatz tweet, which claimed the White House had been bombed, caused the S&P 500 to sell off by more than 14 points (about 1%) in less than two minutes. Thankfully, markets corrected quickly within about 15 minutes after realizing the news wasn't true.

Fast-moving environments can cause some to become overwhelmed and miss the opportunities that fluctuating markets can often create. Without well-documented goals, identifying opportunities in "the fog of markets" becomes even more difficult. The previous month is a useful reminder that investors need a game plan.

We will likely hear about threats to continued growth at home and abroad throughout the summer; yet, we continue to see significant signs of recovery in our economy. The opportunities and outlook for U.S. investors are bright, specifically in housing and energy.

 
 
     
 

Market commentary provided by Fifth Third Private Bank. Source of statistics is Bloomberg.com. This information is current as of the date of this letter and the opinions expressed are subject to change at any time, based on market and other conditions. This information is intended for educational purposes only and does not constitute the rendering of investment advice or specific recommendations on investment activities and trading. The mention of a specific security within this letter is not intended as a solicitation to buy or sell the specific security. Index performance shown within this letter is not representative of any Fifth Third managed account.

Diversification does not assure or guarantee better performance and cannot eliminate the risk of investment loss.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indexes are unmanaged, do not incur investment management fees, do not represent the performance of any particular investment, and may not be invested directly into by investors. Small company investing involves specific risks not necessarily encountered in large company investing such as increased volatility. Investments in foreign markets entail special risks such as currency, political, economic and market risks. 

S&P 500 Index is a composite of 500 companies, amongst the largest based in the United States, and it often used as a measure of the overall U.S. stock market.

MSCI EMF (Emerging Markets Free) Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance in the global emerging markets.  As of June 2006 the MSCI Emerging Markets Index consisted of the following 25 emerging market country indices: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey.

Gold Index is the U.S. dollar per Troy ounce

S&P REIT Composite Index tracks the market performance of the U.S. real estate investment trusts, known as REITs. The REIT Composite consists of approximately 100 REITs with at least $100 million in market capitalization, chosen for their liquidity and represents a balance of property types and geographic locations. Mortgage REITs are not eligible for inclusion.

The MSCI World Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets. The MSCI World Index consists of the following 24 developed market country indices: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States*.


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