The Riskalyze Report: A Bit of Performance Chasing

1. International (VXUS, IGFFX, VTIAX)
2. Mid-Cap Equity (JVMIX, VIMAX, IJJ, FNX)
3. Total Return Bond (BOND, PTTPX, JHBIX)

Josh here – there’s a bit of performance-chasing evident in last week’s data, as advisors allocate heavily to two of this year’s brightest spots both at home and abroad.

The two biggest additions to advisor portfolios last week – international stock funds and mid-cap focused US equity funds – both cover areas of the global investment markets that have far outpaced the S&P 500 index so far in 2015. The MidCap 400 index was up over 6% YTD going into Friday – roughly triple the return of the large cap core index, as per Morningstar.

As for international stocks, let’s just say that last year’s “worst houses in a bad neighborhood” have become this year’s best – with the MSCI World ex-USA index posting a 10% gain in dollars and an even higher return in local currencies.

Suffice it to say, advisors may be looking to get their portfolios in better alignment to capture some of these trends ahead of the snoozy summertime that fast approaches. But will these trends persist into the second half of the year?

A word about Riskalyze:

In my practice, we use Riskalyze software tools to help assess clients’ true risk tolerance and to test portfolio configurations that match up accordingly. It’s changed our practice for the better, as I explain here.

Check it out today!

*(to state the obvious, Riskalyze does not share client sensitive data with me or use animals in testing).