In aggregate, international equity markets continued their run in February of 2026. The MSCI Standard All-Country Ex USA was up 5.04% for the month and 11.33% year-to-date. MSCI’s representative US market was down .88% for the month and only up .40% year-to-date (January 2, 2026 to February 27, 2026).
The MSCI developed international index was up 4.82% for February. The constituent European index was up 3.29%. With the exception of Austria, Ireland and Denmark, most major country indices were in positive territory. Denmark returned a negative 18.57%, weighed down by the performance of Novo Nordisk. Norway, the best performing market, was up 9.06% led by energy stock Equinor. Year-to date, the aggregate developed index was up 9.78% with Europe up 7.89%.
The Pacific index was up 7.61% for the month, with all composite countries in positive territory. Japan led the pack with an 8.59% return. Trading Economics credited investor rotation into AI-related infrastructure stocks as one of the reasons for the market’s good performance. Year-to-date, the Pacific index was up 14.81%.
MSCI’s emerging market index continued to chug along, up 5.51% for February, but there was great disparity among and within regions. The constituent Asian index was up 6.25% for the month. Crackdowns on speculators, concerns over technology earnings and continued slump in the property market led to a decline in the Chinese index of 5.77%. Continued interest in AI supply chain, however, buoyed the Korean and Taiwanese indices which were up 22.08% and 12.75%, respectively. Year-to-date, the emerging Asian index was up 15.05%.
Among other emerging markets, capital rotation to Brazilian equities drove the performance of the Latin American index, which was up 3.82% for February, despite dismal performance of the smaller Peru and Colombian markets. Geopolitical concerns overshadowed emerging European equities, with the representative index down 1.52%, and most Middle Eastern markets as well. MSCI’s GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Countries was down 2.16%. Year-to-date, the emerging market index was up 14.86%.
Entering into March, the initial reaction of domestic and international indices to escalation in the Middle East was largely negative. Underlying performance of different countries and industries, however, is varying widely. Over the next weeks and months your Bastion portfolio managers will weigh carefully the risks and opportunities that these hostilities present to different countries, sectors and individual companies. Please subscribe to the newsletters of John Rotonti, Bastion’s industrial and infrastructure portfolio manager, and Cale Smith, our energy portfolio manager at www.lastbastion.com to see how they are navigating these challenging times.
1 Unless otherwise noted, performance numbers for February, 2026 are based on the relevant MSCI index data viewed on March 3, 2026.
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