Monthly Market Data - April 2026

Equites surge; hard assets make strong gains

Asset Class Returns

Major Asset Class Returns - Month Ending April 30, 2026

• Equity markets and hard assets all had solid gains in April. Fixed Income was the lone asset class with a negative return.

• Emerging Market equities generated the most positive return, followed by U.S. Small Cap stocks. U.S. Large Cap was the third-best performing class.

• Real Estate rose sharply, despite an uptick in the yield curve (see below). Commodities rose again, boosted by rising oil prices.

• Rising yields weighed on Fixed Income prices.

The table below depicts the same information as above and shows which representative security is used for each asset class.

Source: Jackson Creek Investment Advisors; S&P Global

Major Asset Class Returns - Twelve Months Ending April 30, 2026

• All eight asset classes have a positive trailing twelve-month return.

• Commodities have outpaced all other asset classes, primarily due to the surge in Oil prices from the onset of the Iran conflict.

• Emerging Market stocks were the second-best asset class over the last twelve months, followed by U.S Small Cap equities.

• U.S. Large Cap stocks, a major barometer of the health of the domestic economy, returned 31.1% in the past year.

• Fixed Income gained 4.1% in the past year.

U.S. Index Returns with Growth & Value Styles

• Small Cap Growth was the leading style in April, highlighting a more “risk-on” approach.

• Growth outperformed Value with the large and small cap universes. Value outperformed Growth at the mid-cap level, although the performance gap was smaller compared to the large and small Value/Growth spreads.

• Small Cap outperformed across each style. Mid-caps had the smallest returns at each style.

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Interest Rates

• Compared to last month, the yield curve shifted upward along each maturity greater than one year.

• The yield curve has normalized from the 3M yield with each subsequent maturity providing a higher yield. The shortest-dated 1M ended the month with a 3.72% yield, compared to the 3.68% 3M yield.

• The long-dated 30YR ended just below 5.0% (4.98%).

• The 2Y/10Y spread widened by one basis point to .52%.

• The 2Y/10Y spread is smaller than last April when the belly of the curve was yielding the lowest.

Disclaimer - this is not to be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. This is not meant to be indicative of any specific portfolio returns. Please see full disclosure on main blog page.