While the first month of the new decade generally saw negative equity performance, after the way in which markets overcame apparent obstacles throughout 2019, we are hopeful that this is nothing more than a temporary setback. In January the MSCI EAFE index fell by -2.08%, which, while a deviation from its stellar 2019 returns, could quickly resume growth if the market returns to its long term trend in 2020. Meanwhile, the MSCI Emerging Marketing index plateaued for most of the month before falling sharply at its tail end, resulting in performance of -4.66%. Lastly, the MSCI World ex USA Small Cap index did not fare much better, as its value fell by -2.88% in January.
Henry James International Management December Market Commentary
Whoever first articulated ‘no pain, no gain’ was probably talking about weightlifting or long distance running, but little did this word-smith know that this maxim would perfectly capture what investors experienced in 2019: soaring equity prices in spite of persistent economic threat, raging volatility and nagging market anxiety. 2019 was generally very good for investors; indeed, on December 31 the S&P 500 was up 724 points (28.88%) from where it was 12 months earlier. Such gaudy, portfolio pleasing figures, however, entirely fail to account for the true story of 2019: it was a year in which there was always at least one major (often multiple) geopolitical or economic issue seemingly poised to bring markets to their knees. For example, the MSCI EAFE index’s returns of 3.27% in December, 8.21% in the 4th Quarter and 22.66% in 2019 entirely obscure the pessimism with which 2019 began, not to mention the realities of the government shutdown and the feud between President Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve over monetary policy. Indeed, by looking at the MSCI Emerging Markets index’s return of 7.53% in December, 11.93% in the 4th Quarter and 18.9% in 2019, one cannot see the very real economic scars left by the US – China trade war, nor can one recall the way in which it constantly threatened to boil over. Looking at the returns of the MSCI World ex USA Small Cap index of 4.65% in December, 11.45% in the 4th Quarter and 25.94% in 2019, there is neither evidence of the uncertainty caused by Brexit and the disastrous prospect of Britain leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal, nor any indication of how Germany’s manufacturing recession further stifled Eurozone’s anemic growth. And yet, markets muscled through these very genuine headwinds and delivered impressive gains on the back of what clearly was a fundamentally strong US and global economy and Jerome Powell’s willingness to be flexible with the Fed’s monetary policy by lowering interest rates by 75 basis points. And yet, so persistent were 2019 economic threats that the slightest hint of positive news on a topic like the US – China trade war or Brexit generally resulted in a market bounce, something that highlights the discrepancy between the terms ‘markets’ and ‘economies’ and how positive returns for the former does not necessarily indicate robustness in the latter.