Asset class performance (April 2012): Another good month for bonds

By Prieur du Plessis, on May 4th, 2012 posted in: Investment, Markets, Money Leave your comment

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The bar chart below, courtesy of Scott Barber of Reuters, shows the monthly performances of the principal asset classes.

“The “risk on/risk off” barometer moved back in the direction of “risk off” during April, as U.S. 10-year Treasury securities turned in the best investment gains (in U.S. dollar terms) during the month,” said Barber. “The 2.8% jump in the value of the Treasury securities came despite the almost universal perspective on the part of professional investors that the 30-year bull market for bonds is finally sputtering to a halt and that eventually interest rates will begin to climb. Investors displayed a clear bias in favor of assets that not only generated income but also offered them security – in other words, bonds of various kinds were the only major asset classes to end the month in the black.”

Source: Scott Barber, Reuters, May 2, 2012.

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