Still surging from the pandemic bottom, global stocks continued a run that followed last fall’s pandemic resurgence. After struggling in the first quarter as rates generally rose on account of expectations for increased growth (and potentially excess inflation), bonds regained some of that ground lost as inflation fears subsided (a bit).

After leading the pack from Q2 2020 onward, emerging market stocks struggles to maintain pace with developed-market equities. Within that group, non-U.S. held the lead through most of the quarter, only to fall back toward the U.S. tally as the U.S. dollar gained ground in June.

After trailing their Value peers from the COVID-induced bottom, Growth stocks took the performance lead in the second quarter, pulling ahead for the 1-year period as well. Small-cap stocks trailed larger stocks, too, in Q2, but still maintained a very healthy lead over the trailing 12 months. The story for international stocks was somewhat similar as that for the U.S. during the second quarter. But over the prior year, Value maintained a lead over Growth, as did small-cap stocks, versus larger names.