2015 has turned out to be a bumpy ride for investors across all asset classes. The Dow and S&P 500 would both be negative for the year if it weren’t for their dividends placing them at +0.98% and +1.3%, year to date. Japan and Europe have had better results, until you adjust for the U.S dollar’s increase, which places their returns in negative territory as well. The asset class winners turned out to be bonds and preferred securities, with the 10-Year U.S. Treasuries returning +3.95% and our basket of preferred names returning +6% for clients invested from the beginning of the year.

October turned out to be a very pleasant month for equities, with the DOW and S&P returning over 8%, bringing the S&P to just less than 1% and the DOW closer to breaking-even on the year. Last month’s rally helped ease the pain of the brutal August sell-off, but reading through the 3rd QTR revenue and earnings releases, you’d think that equities would be flat to slightly negative.