Market Wrap April 2024

March: Small Caps Outperform

• March was one of those rare month’s where all of the asset classes in this report produced positive returns. Interestingly, the returns for the 1 year to 31 March 2024 were also very good and all positive.
• Global Shares on an unhedged basis gained 3.0%. Global shares on a hedged basis gained 3.3%. Value-Weighted and Value were the best performing styles for the month, with Momentum as a style also performing well.
• Australian shares also performed well, with the broad market index, the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index gaining 3.3% for the month. The best performing styles for the month were Small Caps and Momentum. The poorest performing style was Quality, which still performed to a reasonable standard.
• Australian small caps were the best performing asset class for the month returning an excellent 4.8% for March.
• Fixed income gained some ground this month with Australian Fixed Interest gaining 1.1%, while global fixed interest returned 0.8%.
• The Australian dollar gained 0.2% against the U.S. dollar over the month.

Job Market Remains Strong

Globally

• The unemployment rate in the United States dipped to 3.8% in March 2024 from the previous month's two-year high of 3.9% and surprising market expectations, which had forecasted the rate to remain unchanged. The number of unemployed individuals decreased by 29,000 to 6.4 million, while employment levels saw a significant surge, rising by 498,000 to reach 161.5 million.
• In the U.S., the number of job openings went up by 8,000 from the previous month to 8.756 million in February 2024, marginally above market expectations of 8.75 million.

Locally

• The monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator in Australia stood at 3.4% in the year to February 2024, unchanged from the previous two months and below market expectations of 3.5%. Still, the latest reading pointed to the lowest since November 2021, with food prices rising the least in 25 months (3.6% vs 4.4% in January).
• Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in February 2024, the lowest since last September, from 4.1% in January. Figures were less than market forecasts of 4.0%, as the number of unemployed individuals dropped by 52,000 to 548,300, with those seeking full-time jobs falling by 47,800 to 351,500.