January has come to an end; here’s a report of all the exciting things that happened last month. This report covers the highlights of all the asset classes on Rise in the month of January so that you get a holistic view of everything that has been happening and how it affects you.
Stocks
In January, the US stock market bounced back from recent months of decline, posting over 7% growth. Our stock portfolio on the other hand surged to a year-to-date return of 26.80%.
After months of raising rates, the Fed increased rates by another 0.25% but signaled that it might pause the rate hikes soon.
Meanwhile, the investment team at Rise made changes to the Rise stock portfolio owing to last year’s negative performance. We removed Block Inc. after we noticed the company’s revenue growth did not translate into profits and free cash-flow. On the other hand, we continued to buy into Meta in spite of its recent changes, as we believe the company will continue to deliver growth now and in the future. That has paid off with their recent earnings announcement leading the stock to surge almost 22% in a single trading day.
Finally, we added to some other existing defensive positions, bought into ASML and sold out of our position in Service Now. We are also analyzing earnings results of our portfolio companies and will be making further adjustments to the stock portfolio as appropriate.
Real Estate
Our real estate portfolio continues to deliver inflation-hedged returns and we had a new Airbnb property that went live this January. The Airbnb segment of our real estate is our higher earning segment and we are looking to add more as we hope to continually deliver long-term returns.
Meanwhile, home prices have continued to drop but not as largely anticipated because housing supply is still incredibly low and home buyers have started returning to the market despite higher mortgage rates. We submitted an offer for a property that had multiple offers and didn’t win, underscoring the fact that market demand is still strong. We expect home prices to continue to drop through the quarter which is good for our earnings since rental demand and prices continue to be strong.
However, don’t forget that with Rise, you can own real estate through our portfolio or purchase directly in your name if you prefer. For our existing users, expect your real estate returns to be paid in the coming days.
Fixed Income
On this end, the US monetary authorities have continued to hike interest rates offering low-risk investors a safe haven. This move is forcing emerging economies and corporations to issue bonds at higher rates in order for their bonds to be attractive to investors.
However, this is good as the Rise fixed income fund is majorly invested in high yielding corporate and sovereign bonds.
January was an interesting month and we are excited about all that February has in store for us. As your asset manager, we will continue to look for ways to serve you better and make your journey to financial success as smooth as possible.