ETF Performances for March

Article Excerpt

The dramatic downward movement in U.S. government bond yields in March reverberated through the markets, with interest rate-sensitive groups, such as real estate and utilities, benefitting strongly from renewed expectations for lower, or at least steady, interest rates. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT.O) tracks long-term U.S. government bonds and added 5.4% during the month while the SPDR U.S. Real Estate ETF (XLRE.K) gained 4.3% and the BMO Equal Weighted Canadian Utilities ETF(ZUT.TO) rose 4.4%. On the global markets, the Vanguard Total Bond Index ETF (BND.O) gained 1.8% in March, while the Vanguard Total World Stocks ETF (VT) gained 0.1%. Real estate, as measured by the iShares Global REIT ETF (REET.K), gained 2.3% while the Invesco Commodity ETF (DBC)—a broad basket of commodities—lost 0.4%. Canadian equities slowed in March, with the iShares MSCI Canada Equity ETF (EWC) losing 1.0% (priced in U.S. dollars). Still, Canadian equities are up 15.6% (in U.S. dollars) since the start of 2019. At the bottom of the performance tables in March were Turkish equities: the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR.O)…