Overall Market Backdrop, February

• February marks the second month running that global equities have seen negative returns. The previous downward pressure coming from monetary policy tightening and inflation concerns have been seen to be trumped by the ongoing war in eastern Europe.
• Negative equity returns were not the only thing that remained persistent throughout February, volatility measures such as the VIX index continued to stay at high levels and maxed out around 30% towards the end of the month.
• The concerns surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine have only exacerbated inflationary pressures.
• Small-Cap was the best performing factor of the month.

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