SBGSF - Harding Loevner Global Developed Markets Equity Composite Q1 2024 Report
2024-05-29 09:05:00 ET
Summary
- Harding Loevner is an investment manager that invests primarily in publicly traded global equities. We were founded in 1989 by former managers for the Rockefeller family. Harding Loevner is a Delaware limited partnership. We operate independently of Affiliated Managers Group.
- The Global Developed Markets Equity composite rose 7.4% gross of fees in the first quarter, trailing the 9.0% gain in the MSCI World Index.
- This quarter, we sold the last of our shares in NVIDIA, a company we held for more than five years.
- SAP shares have recently outperformed as some long-term initiatives bear fruit.
Market Review
Stock markets gained in the quarter despite rising bond yields, due in no small part to ongoing interest in the prospects for artificial intelligence ((AI)). Most sectors and all regions except Pacific ex Japan finished in positive territory.
Monetary policies in global developed markets, which had previously moved together toward higher rates to curb inflation, began to diverge as central bankers addressed varied inflationary trends. In the US, the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate steady at 5.25–5.5% for the fifth consecutive meeting, as higher-than-expected Consumer Price Index figures largely caused by rising housing expenses dashed hopes for an early rate cut. Nevertheless, the Fed continued to signal three rate cuts this year. Longer-term interest rates in the US such as mortgage rates actually increased as investors adjusted their expectations for the timing and magnitude of future rate cuts from the Fed; expectations began the year at seven cuts of 25 basis points (bps), well ahead of guidance. Both the Bank of England and European Central Bank also kept rates unchanged, in contrast to the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected reduction of 25 bps—the first cut by a major central bank since the pandemic’s end—triggered by inflation there returning to the bank’s target range....
Harding Loevner Global Developed Markets Equity Composite Q1 2024 Report