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Energy dominates market performance in May

Market Rewind
Søren Otto Simonsen

Senior Investment Editor

Summary:  With the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chain issues and a wild-running inflation, energy takes centre stage as the top performer in May’s market performance.

Global equities ended up in a slight minus for the month. While this may lead to a conclusion that markets are steady, this is not the case. May was a rollercoaster ride, like most of 2022 has been, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s Covid shutdowns. 
The same story holds true for the regions, where Europe is the biggest loser, falling 1.5 percent for the month. Asia and Emerging Markets end in a slight plus.
Looking at the equity sectors, energy tops the list, increasing 12.7 percent in May. This can again be attributed to the energy crunch with Russia, which among other things drives up the oil price. Consumer oriented sectors and real estate are the biggest losers, due to increasing interest rates and sticky, high inflation figures, making it harder to buy everything from groceries to houses.
Commodities continues to be a key asset class in these weary times. Global commodities increased almost two percent, but looking at gold and oil in comparison, there’s a significant difference. Much like with the equity energy sector, oil as a commodity rose more than 12 percent for the month.
Check out the rest of this month’s performance figures here:
Sources: Bloomberg & Saxo Group
Global equities are measured using the MSCI World Index. Equity regions are measured using the S&P 500 (US) and the MSCI indices Europe, AC Asia Pacific and EM respectively. Equity sectors are measured using the MSCI World/[Sector] indices, e.g. MSCI World/Energy. Bonds are measured using the the USD hedged Bloomberg Aggregate Total Return indices for total, sovereign and corporate respectively. Global Commodities are measured using the Bloomberg Commodity Index. Oil is measured using the next consecutive month’s WTI Crude oil futures contract (Generic 1st 'CL' Future). Gold is measured using the Gold spot dollar price per Ounce. The US Dollar currency spot is measured using the Dollar Index Spot, measuring it against a weighted basket of the following currencies: EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD, SEK and CHF. Unless otherwise specified, figures are in local currencies.

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