US equities led global markets by a wide margin in 2024, a year of mixed results overall for the major asset classes, based on a set of ETFs.

For a second year running, American shares (VTI) were the upside outlier last year, posting a 23.8% total return. The strong gain marks a second straight year of double-digit gains (US equities rose 26.1% in 2023).

US bonds (BND), by contrast, struggled to stay positive in 2024. Although US fixed-income ended the year with a gain, the 1.4% total return weakened from 2023’s 5.7% advance

Losses for last year were confined to foreign real estate shares (VNQI) and various corners of foreign bond markets. The biggest loss for the major asset classes in 2024: inflation-indexed government bonds ex-US (WIP), which tumbled 8.7%.

The Global Market Index (GMI) posted a second straight year of 10%-plus growth. After posting a sizzling 19.2% total return in 2023, GMI extended the rally in 2024 with a softer-but-still-strong 14.1% increase. GMI is an unmanaged benchmark (maintained by CapitalSpectator.com) that holds all the major asset classes (except cash) in market-value weights via ETFs and represents a competitive benchmark for multi-asset-class portfolios.

Comparing GMI with US stocks (VTI) and bonds (BND) over the trailing one-year window continues to reflect a middling performance.