July witnessed a strong recovery in the FT Wilshire 5000 index driven by a rally in growth stocks. Mounting concerns about recessionary headwinds boosted demand for long duration growth stocks by reducing discount rates (via lower nominal and real yields) and by increasing demand for their defensive attributes. The 9.6% rally in the FT Wilshire 5000 was the fifth largest monthly return in the last 20 years.
Chart 1: The fifth largest monthly return over the last 20 years
Source: Wilshire
Chart 2: Large-cap growth relative performance has responded to declining real yields
Source: Wilshire, FactSet
The Technology, Consumer Goods and Digital Info sectors drove Growth performance
Sector weighted performance contributions take account of both the performance and respective sector weightings. Comparing the sector weighted contributions for large-cap growth and large cap value in July, it can be seen that the majority of growth's 6.4% outperformance relative to value was due to the size of the respective contributions from the key growth sectors - Technology, Consumer Goods and Services and Digital Information.
Chart 3: The sector weighted contributions to July performance
Source: Wilshire
Index 15303321 E0922
