Monthly Insight: March 2012

The month of March saw the US market rally, with the S&P 500 index breaking 1400. This rising optimism in the US stems from good employment figures which signaled a slowly but steadily improving economy. General optimism showed itself in the retreat of the volatility index (VIX) which hit its lowest level since 2007. Worldwide markets were more volatile and mostly flat. This has primarily been due to the worry and eventual restructuring of Greek debt and the ongoing debate of a soft vs. hard landing in the Chinese economy. Geopolitical fears related to Iran kept crude oil prices around $100 per barrel through a relatively flat month. Increased fear may increase crude oil prices in the coming months, but oil prices are expected to remain flat borrowing new significant political upheaval or relief.

The Global Equity Fund maintained a diversified investment strategy with a balanced portfolio of ETFs, indices and individual stocks forming about 60% of the portfolio and country & sector momentum strategies augmenting the rest of the portfolio. These momentum strategies have proven profitable, but we have maintained a relevant cash position due to our skepticism of the quality of the global recovery. The global equity fund outperformed the MSCI All World ex-US benchmark by about 1.3% in March. The team plans to continue to optimistically take advantage of global uncertainty by buying into dips to further invest and diversify the portfolio.