Despite a sour end to the month, U.S. equities and stock exchange traded funds still notched a gain over May on upbeat first-quarter corporate earnings and signs of a steadily improving global economy.
U.S. stocks rose over May, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the Nasdaq Composite 0.2% higher and the S&P 500 up 1.0%.
Over the past month, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) and Vanguard 500 Index (NYSEArca: VOO) rose 1.4% while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) gained 0.8% and PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ) increased 3.9%.
The best performing non-leveraged exchange traded products for the past month including the iPath US Treasury 5 Year Bull ETN (NasdaqGM: DFVL) up 4.2%, iPath US Treasury Long Bond Bull ETN (NasdaqGM: DLBL) up 3.7% and iShares International High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEArca: HYXU) up 3.4%.
On the other hand, the worst non-leveraged ETPs of the past month include the Barclays Inverse U.S. Treasury Aggregate ETN (NYSEArca: TAPR) down 8.0%, iPath US Treasury Steepener ETN (NasdaqGM: STPP) down 1.5% and WisdomTree Global Real Return Fund (NasdaqGM: RRF) down 1.3%.
U.S. equities climbed in May with a sort hiccup in the middle of the month.
At the start of May, improving economic data, including those on American consumers and employment, helped keep markets trucking along.