July HANDLS Market Recap: Equities Continue to Run

The graph and table above provide return data for major income-oriented asset categories for the month of July 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.

Equities Continue to Run

Despite concerns about inflation and the impact of higher interest rates on valuations, equities continued to perform well in July, with the Large Cap Equity Core category gaining 3.7% for the month. The broad fixed-income market traded sideways, with the Core Fixed Income category returning -0.1% in July.

Equity categories that make up the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright Explore portion of HANDLS Indexes generally outperformed the fixed-income categories, with MLPs leading the way with a 6.4% return for the month. Utilities, which tend to be more sensitive to interest rates, recovered from a difficult first half of the year to return 2.4% in July. Build America Bonds were the worst performing category in July, generating a -0.8% return for the month.

The Nasdaq 5HANDL Index returned 1.7% for the month. The Nasdaq 7 HANDL Index, the 1.3x leveraged version of the index, returned 2.1% in July while the Nasdaq 10 HANDL Index, the 2.0x leveraged version of the index, delivered a 3.0% return.

*The graph and table above provide return data for major income-oriented asset categories since inception of HANDLS Indexes (3/12/2009). 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.  Inception dates for MLPs (1/2/2013), Build America Bonds (1/2/2010) and Active Fixed Income

For the year-to-date period through the end of July, the Core Large Cap Equity category continued to handily outperform all other categories, rebounding from a difficult 2022 to return 35.4% so far in 2023. The Core Fixed Income category was up 2.1% for the year-to-date period, as federal reserve tightening moderated increases in interest rates. For the income-oriented categories that make up the Nasdaq Dorsey Wright Explore portion of HANDLS Indexes, the Growth & Income category remained the leader for the year-to-date period, providing a 17.8% return. Utilities (-4.0%) were the only income-oriented category tracked by HANDLS Indexes to generate negative returns during the year-to-date period ended in July.

The Nasdaq 5HANDL Index was up 8.7% through the end of July, versus returns of 10.4% and 14.3% for the Nasdaq 7 HANDL Index and Nasdaq 10 HANDL Index, respectively.

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