July ended with a thud after Chair Powell’s presser this afternoon sent the S&P 500 lower by 1.09% at the close.  Even with today’s 1% declines, though, US equities posted solid returns during the month.

Below is our asset class performance matrix showing total returns for various ETFs today, in July, and year-to-date.

Interestingly, Consumer Staples was the sector that got hit hardest today with a decline of more than 2%.  Consumer Discretionary, Materials, Industrials, and Technology also fell more than 1%.

For the month of July, most country ETFs ended up struggling badly even though the US gained 1%+.  France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Spain, and the UK all fell more than 2% in July.  Silver was the best asset class in July with a gain of more than 6%.

Year to date, the best performer in the entire matrix is the US Tech sector with a gain of more than 30%.  Russia ranks second at +25%.  Start a two-week free trial to Bespoke Premium to receive our best equity research on a daily basis.