Commodities shine in February

Article Excerpt

February ended the same way as January—with U.S. and global equities under pressure as investors became increasingly concerned about the prospect of rising inflation spurring higher interest rates. However, most commodities had an excellent month while real estate also continued to recover. The iShares MSCI Canada Equity ETF (EWC), supported by higher commodity prices, gained 1.7%. That made it one of the better performing equity markets for the month. Also at the broad market level, the Vanguard Total World Stocks ETF (VT) lost 1.0% for the month, while the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) lost 0.9%, and the iShares Core EAFE ETF (IEFA) rose 1.2%. Emerging markets gave back some of their strong gains in January and underperformed developed markets. The iShares Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) lost 3.2%, but it is still up by 19.5% over the past six months. Investors are increasingly concerned about higher inflation and higher interest rates. This prompted drops in bond prices especially in the U.S. and Canada. The Vanguard International Bond ETF (BNDX) lost 2.0% while Canadian bonds—represented by…