The story of October was one of fall – world stocks rose and cash remained basically flat, but every other asset class on the scoreboard ended the month lower. Unfortunately, our favorite asset class posted the deepest loss, dropping managed futures to just shy of -3% on the year (Disclaimer: past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results).

As far as the rankings go, the scoreboard has changed very little since last month. Commodities dropped into negative territory, falling behind cash. Otherwise the rankings remained unchanged, and based on the benchmarks we use, real estate further solidified its lead as the best-performing asset class of the year. With only two months left to go, only a serious disruption could shake up the scoreboard at this point.

Managed Futures = Newedge CTA Index, Cash = 13 wk T-Bill rate,

Bonds = Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND), Hedge Funds = DJCS Core Hedge Fund Index

Commodities – iShares GSCI ETF (GSG), Real Estate = iShares DJ Real Estate ETF (IYR)

World Stocks = MCSI World Index (ex USA), US Stocks = S&P 500