REITs and bonds stole the performance show last month among the major asset classes. As stocks around the world retreated slightly in April, REITs forged ahead for the second straight month, rising 2.9%, according to MSCI REIT. Meanwhile, the crowd resumed its love affair with bonds. U.S. fixed income gained 1.1% last month, based on the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index (its best month since last August), while inflation-indexed Treasuries surged 2.0% as per Barclays Treasuries Tips Index.

Fixed income wasn’t able to overcome the headwinds in equities, however. The net result was a slight drag on our market-value weighted benchmark of all the major asset classes. The Global Market Index (GMI) slipped 0.1% in April, it’s first monthly loss this year.

Equal weighting everything once again demonstrated its competitive advantage in April. Our equal-weighted GMI rose 0.5%. For the year through last month, however, the equal-weighted version of GMI trails its market-value-weighted counterpart: 6.7% to 7.1%.