2012 was a year that rewarded a “risk on” approach, and one that largely punished the most practical efforts toward diversification. Straying from Equity-based investments may have lowered volatility for an allocation, but it came generally with a substantial performance cost as well.
US Equities and Non-US Equities posted the better returns in Q4 (cap-weighted S&P 500 Index aside), and easily the best performance in 2012. US large cap & small cap, International Developed & Emerging, all posted double-digit returns in 2012. Of the assets included in our performance overview below, the S&P 500 SPDRs [ SPY ] had the worst performance among equity-based products last year and yet managed to gain 13.47%.
The PowerShares DWA Technical Leaders Portfolio [ PDP ] provided the best return at 17.16% over that period, with the various other US & Non-US equity alternatives tightly clustered within that range. In the 4th quarter, it was International markets that held a material performance advantage. The S&P 500 SPDRs [ SPY ] fell -1.08%, the only equity fund in the table below to fall, while the US MidCaps rose 3.06% and the PowerShares Emerging Market Technical Leaders [ PIE ] gained 7.71%.
In every asset class there were bright spots and sore thumbs, but in broad terms it was the Global Equity market that provided the better returns to investors last year and last quarter.
Click Here for Performance Overview Table