April HANDLS Market Recap: Calm Under Fire?

The graph and table above provide return data for major income-oriented asset categories for the month of April 2023 and YTD 2023. Returns for each asset category are based on the returns of the constituent(s) in the Nasdaq HANDLS™ Base Index representing that category. Also included are returns for the Nasdaq 5HANDL™ Index, the Nasdaq 7HANDL™ Index and the Nasdaq 10HANDL™ Index.

Calm Under Fire

Despite a banking crisis that occupied the attention of the financial world in April, the broad securities markets turned in a ho-hum performance during the month. The Core Large Cap Equity category delivered a 0.9% return, driven by strong returns in dividend-paying equities. Meanwhile, the Core Fixed Income category generated a 0.6% return in April.

None of the the income-oriented categories that make up the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright Explore portion of HANDLS Indexes generated negative returns in April. Leading the way with a 2.3% return were the Dividend Equity and Covered Call categories. At the other end of the spectrum, REITs were flat for the month as interest rate concerns continued to weigh on the category.

The Nasdaq 5HANDL Index returned 1.0% for the month. The Nasdaq 7 HANDL Index, the 1.3x leveraged version of the index, returned 1.2% in March while the Nasdaq 10 HANDL Index, the 2.0x leveraged version of the index, delivered a 1.6% return.

For the year-to-date period through the end of April, the Core Large Cap Equity category remained the leader, delivering a healthy 16.6% return. Following a disastrous 2022, the Core Fixed Income category was up 3.7% for the year-to-date period. For the income-oriented categories that make up the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright Explore portion of HANDLS Indexes, the Growth & Income category, which provides exposure to both equities and bonds, remained the leader for the year-to-date period, providing a 9.8% return. The Utilities category (-2.0%) was the only income-oriented category tracked by HANDLS Indexes to generate negative returns during the year-to-date period.

The Nasdaq 5HANDL Index was up 5.4% through the end of April, versus returns of 6.5% and 9.0% for the Nasdaq 7 HANDL Index and Nasdaq 10 HANDL Index, respectively.

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