August 2014 Stock and Bond Index Returns

August 2014 Market Summary

After last month's market performance people were ready to give up on the market. Hopefully you weren't one of them because the market recovered nicely in August. 

The long term growth of the economy and bull market in stocks is still in place. The US market recovered especially well while international developed markets were essentially flat. The best performers were US small cap stocks (both core and value up 5.05% and 4.69%, respectively). If you recall, these were the worst performers last month. Both large cap core and value stocks were up over 3% each. Emerging Markets was the only international stock category to be up, 2.07%. This puts emerging markets back as the top performer YTD. Both Large and Small cap international stocks were down but all less then 1% each.

Short-term bonds were up 0.26% and have returned 1.34% year-to-date.

The markets have been very volatile the last couple months but overall it has been a pretty good year for stocks and bonds for that matter. How should we proceed from here? Stay the course of course. Jim says, "There is extra volatility especially in small cap stocks. This would be concerning for someone without a financial plan in place."

One Month Returns By Asset Class

US Large Cap Core: 3.64%

US Large Cap Value: 3.07%

US Small Cap Core: 5.05%

US Small Cap Value: 4.69%

International Large Core: (0.45%)

International Large Value: (0.82%)

International Small Core: (0.33%)

International Small Value:  (0.62%)

Emerging Markets: 2.07%

Short Term Bonds: 0.26%