Positive performance was a rare commodity in May for the major asset classes. With the exception of US stocks and a fractional gain for US high-yield bonds, red ink dominated last month’s return ledger. The big loser: emerging market stocks in US dollar terms. After surging in April, posting the biggest monthly advance in more than three years, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index gave up a more than half of that gain and stumbled 4.0% last month.

The negative performance bias in May weighed on the Global Market Index, an unmanaged benchmark that holds all the major asset classes in market-value weights. GMI inched lower last month, retreating by 0.2%. For the year so far, GMI is ahead by 2.8%, midway between the year-to-date gains for US bonds (Barclays Aggregate Bonds) and US stocks (Russell 3000).