And the Winner Is…Bonds

Surprisingly, bonds beat all stock and most alternative asset classes over the past year as the following table shows:

Markets results in 2018 were similar with cash beating bonds and stocks. In fact, no stock market has made money since January of 2018 including in the S&P 500 (US Large Stocks). This is what a low return environment looks like. We remain conservatively positioned relying on alternatives and other lower risk strategies to attempt to provide reasonable returns, while avoiding risks investors are not being adequately paid to take.

Starting last week and continuing this week and next we are reducing our US Treasury bond position and reallocating the proceeds to municipal, mortgages and corporate bonds. Treasuries have rallied strongly over the past year and yields are at multi-month lows making them less attractive than other types of bonds. The adjustments will be larger in more aggressive accounts as Treasuries make up a larger portion of the bond portfolio. Please contact us if you would like to discuss portfolio positioning or the recent trades.