ETF performances for May

Article Excerpt

It rarely happens that fixed-income ETFs rank among the top-performing funds in any month, but May was such an exception. Bond yields are declining in many countries. That’s particularly so in the U.S. where investors are increasingly concerned about slowing economic growth. As bond yields drop, fixed-income ETFs benefit. The iShares Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) holds long-dated U.S. government bonds—this ETF gained 4.9% during May. Canadian bonds, as measured by the iShares Canadian Govt Bond ETF (XGB) gained 1.2% while the Vanguard International Bond ETF (BNDX) rose 1.0%. Equities generally had a poor month. The Vanguard Total World Stocks ETF (VT) lost 5.3%; the Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) lost 5.3%; and the iShares MSCI Canada Equity ETF (EWC) fell 3.5%. As well, the iShares Core Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) dropped 8.1%. Among the better performing equity ETFs for the month was the iShares India ETF (XID), which gained 1.3% in the wake of the completion of the federal government elections. This fund has now improved 14.2% over the past three months. In contrast, the Invesco Semiconductor ETF (PSI) lost a..