August 2025 Economic & Market Highlights
Market Commentary
-
The CPC Team
September 4, 2025

August 2025 Economic & Market Highlights

  • U.S. equities, led by US Small Cap Stocks posting a 7.1% gain, advanced broadly in August as confidence in a potential Federal Reserve rate cut rose. Even after the strong month, small caps continue to lag large caps year-to-date. US Mega Cap Stocks rose 3.4% and US Large Caps gained 2.0%, though late-month weakness in technology tempered broader large-cap returns.

  • International markets provided a boost to diversified portfolios. International Developed Stocks climbed 4.3% on resilient European growth and moderating inflation, while Emerging Market Stocks gained 1.3%, held back by geopolitical concerns and uneven momentum in China despite improving global trade dynamics.

  • Bond markets also delivered positive results. Taxable Bonds rose 1.2% and Municipal Bonds added 0.9%, supported by declining Treasury yields. A softer inflation outlook and dovish commentary from Fed officials reinforced expectations of monetary easing later this year.
Source: Bloomberg-All performance is percentage change of total return
The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as "The Dow" is an index representing 30 stock of companies maintained and reviewed by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index, which represent approximately 8% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. The MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, and Far East) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the United States & Canada. The EAFE consists of the country indices of 22 developed nations. The MSCI Emerging Markets is designed to measure equity market performance in 25 emerging market indices. The index's three largest industries are materials, energy, and banks. Bloomberg US Aggregate (BBAG): The index is a measure of the investment grade, fixed-rate, taxable bond market of roughly 6,000 SEC-registered securities with intermediate maturities averaging approximately 10 years. The index includes bonds from the Treasury, Government-Related, Corporate, MBS, ABS, and CMBS sectors. Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index: The index is a measure of the long-term tax-exempt bond market with securities of investment grade (rated at least Baa by Moody's Investors Service and BBB by Standard and Poor's). This index has four main sectors: state and local general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, insured bonds, and prerefunded bonds.
Ready to begin?
Contact us