David Cohen

Capping a brutal year for income investors, both the equity and fixed-income markets lost ground in December. The Core Large Cap Equity category returned -7.8% while the Core Fixed Income category delivered a -0.8% return. Concerns about inflation and the impact of the Federal Reserve’s tightening policy on future economic growth continued to serve as headwinds for both equities and bonds.

Financial markets rallied across the board in November, with the Core Equity Large Cap Equity category returning 5.5% for the second month in a row. Unlike in October, fixed-income markets joined the rally, with the Core Fixed Income category rebounding 3.7%

After a tumultuous September, the equity markets rebounded in October, with the Core Large Cap Equity category delivering a healthy 5.5% return. Rising interest rates continued to push bond prices down, however, and the Core Fixed Income category lost 1.2%.

Markets picked up in September where they left off in August, with rising interest rates wreaking havoc on stocks and bonds alike. For the month, the Core Large Cap Equity category returned -10.1% while the Core Fixed Income category lost 4.2%.

Markets enjoyed a strong start to August, continuing a rally that saw rising asset values across the board in July. Alas, the second half of the month proved more challenging for investors, with prices of stocks and bonds suffering steep declines. For the month, the Core Large Cap Equity category re-turned -4.7% while the Core Fixed Income Category came in at -2.9%.

Markets shook off the 2022 doldrums in July, with every income-oriented asset category tracked by HANDLS In-dexes gaining positive returns. MLPs rebounded from a dismal June to return 12.7% for the month of July, bring-ing year-to-date return to 23.5%. With the Utilities category gaining 5.4% in July to bring its year-to-date returns to 5.0%, MLPs and Utilities are the only categories to have earned positive year-to-date returns through July.