December was a mixed bag of performance for the major asset classes, mainly because fixed-income was weak. Foreign developed-market government bonds were particularly hard hit last month, shedding nearly 6%, as the table below shows. But that’s not necessarily a recurring offence, since a fair slice of the loss is due to a strong 4% rally in the U.S. Dollar Index, a rare jump in the buck and its biggest monthly gain since January 2009.
Meanwhile, REITs led in the winners circle for December, rising by nearly 7%. And equities the world over showed handsome gains as well. But thanks to the selling in most of the world’s bond markets, our Global Market Index (a passive mix of all the major asset classes and the benchmark for The Beta Investment Report) slipped a bit in the last month of 2009.