May was by far the biggest shakeup in the asset class scoreboard so far this year. Big reversals in multiple markets in the final weeks of the month shifted the landscape considerably, with US Real Estate, World Stocks, Managed Futures, Bonds and Commodities all falling. Stocks and Hedge Funds were the only classes on our scoreboard that ended the month higher.

The biggest turnaround was the drubbing in US Real Estate. The Year to Date return there dropped from 13.59% at the end of April down to just 6.22% at the end of May. For Managed Futures, most of the month was spent making modest gains until the late-month reversals wiped those away and then some, leaving our favorite asset class still in the middle of the pack. If the May reversal holds for June and beyond, we’ll be looking for that crisis period performance to kick in. But one thing’s for sure – after last month and this month, long-only commodity exposure is looking worse and worse all the time.

Disclaimer: past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
Managed Futures = Newedge CTA Index, Cash = 13 week T-Bill rate,
Bonds = Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND), Hedge Funds = DJCS Broad 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