Perspectives Newsletter: Q1, 2021
Equities continued their winning streak in the first quarter of 2021 despite political unrest, weather severe enough to disrupt economic output and a global pandemic that continued to rage. Helping to underpin the positive momentum for stocks was an earnings season better than anticipated given these challenges. The rapidly increasing vaccination efforts in the US allowed for a continued reopening of the economy at the same time a massive stimulus bill was passed that pushed out hundreds of billions of dollars in just a few short weeks. A dramatic reaction to all of this in the fixed income market - doubling the yield of the 10-year Treasury - caused stocks to wobble but ultimately was not enough to halt the move higher. Value stocks again trounced growth, though the final weeks of March did see growth stocks catch a bid higher. Small and midcap stocks also performed much better than their largecap peers in the quarter. A strengthening dollar and a new wave of Covid infections abroad made for tough relative performance for international stocks as the quarter came to a close.
