And The Oscar Goes To.....

 Everything Everywhere All at Once.

We have yet to see it ourselves, but the film "Everything Everywhere All at Once" was nominated this year for a ten Academy Awards and in nearly every major category. The insane adventure sweeps a woman through multiple universes as different versions of herself. 

Back to investments, we are witnessing an "everything everywhere all at once rally" that has included global stocks, global bonds, and some commodities, as shown in the chart. For investors, it feels like a different universe than most of 2022 when most other asset classes all declined. No doubt, 2023 will give its fair share of market ups and downs. After 2022, though, it’s great to have a solid month.

The Everything Everywhere All at Once Rally is summarized in the chart below. The chart shows the total return for 19 asset classes for the period covering October 31, 2022 to January 27, 2023 (Sources: Bloomberg data, Charles Schwab). What does this show? Markets from China and and Germany, Emerging Markets (think India or Mexico) have all outpaced the solid gains in the S&P 500. For instance, Emerging Markets have gained 24% in the period studied (versus 6% for the S&P 500). We often say that investments take the stairs up and the elevator down, meaning they tend to fall faster than they rise (expect to lose money faster than you make it). However, it can also be the case that when a market or asset class or individual security has been pushed to the ground, it can rebound sharply. In 2022, international markets suffered even greater losses than those endured in the U.S. We are observing a bull market in international markets from Japan to China to Germany.

Also evident in the chart is the positive returns in the bond market. Last year was the worst market for bonds broadly. Ever. Period. End of story. Since early November 2022, though, this story is over. Bonds are generally recording positive gains, a welcome respite for investors. 

Zuma Wealth LLC: Investment Philosophy and Recent Investment Decisions. We look at risk and return both strategically and protectively. Strategically, through good offense, by combining different asset classes we create an allocation with great prospects for delivering the growth you seek while guarding against unnecessary risk. Protectively, through great defense, we incorporate data to flexibly respond to market information and to help guard against losses.