During the quarter that ended on June 30, 2023 the GW Investment Institute (GWII) hosted 14 industry professionals across four finance classes, held two stock pitch days, completed the spring 2023 semester classes, and held the annual GW Ramsey Scholars Ceremony to award the top 10 students in GWII classes with $50,000 total. The following commentary was written by Leon Kamenev, a GW undergraduate student, graduating in 2024 with a double major in Finance and International Affairs.
Full Report: GWII Quarterly Report June 2023
Overall, equity markets performed positively, with the S&P 500 up 8.7% over the past quarter. Markets reacted positively to lower inflation numbers. The year-over-year CPI in June decreased to 3.0%, the lowest in two years. The Federal Reserve paused its rate hikes during the quarter. It kept the range of the Federal Funds rate between 5.00% and 5.25%. Other economic indicators such as a strong labor market and consumer spending figures have caused recession fears to quell and fuel further optimism for markets.
Not all sectors have benefited from the rally this past quarter. Energy (-0.89%) and Utilities (-2.53%) were the laggards, most likely due to lower oil prices and slower growth in China and Europe. Financial Services (5.33%) have rebounded from their poor performance in Q1 2023 as a result of the turmoil in the regional banking industry. Communication Services (13.06%), Information Technology (17.20%), and Consumer Discretionary (14.58%) were the leaders in the index, due to the positivity surrounding developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and strong consumer resilience.
For the quarter that ended on June 30, 2023, the GWII’s Student Investment Funds in aggregate outperformed the benchmark with a return of 9.8% vs. 8.7% for the S&P 500, while also outperforming the benchmark in the past one year at 24.7% vs. 19.6% for the S&P 500.