The S&P 500 spent the last few days of the year trading just below a new all-time high, but ultimately failing to broach its January 3rd, 2022 record close. The stock market’s price action over the last two years, and the news in the world in general, has been nothing if not interesting. A 25% price drop by mid-October of 2022, 5.25% of Fed rate increases, the onset of two ongoing wars, a banking crisis, an averted possible default on US Treasury debt, and a slowdown-turned-recession in China have all tested investors’ mettle, making the 26% total return in 2023 for the large-cap index all the more welcome.