- Total returns for major asset classes were positive during the quarter, with equity gains generally strongly so
- Market performance generally was more favorable among our Portfolio tilts, with international value and small-cap equities faring particularly well
- Fixed income returns reflected broadly stable interest rate trends against the unchanged backdrop of historically low yields
- Trends in corporate earnings provided little support for equity market valuations, which generally expanded over the three-month period
- Market anxieties we could surmise were narrow and not heavily impactful
- “Brexit” presented challenges at the start of the quarter, but quickly faded from view
- Monetary policy continued to support equity markets, even as policy uncertainty fostered heightened market volatility
- U.S. electioneering seemed to intensify market skittishness, though not the extent that is more normal for this part of the presidential cycle
