All things considered the overall investment landscape is largely unchanged from three months ago after an uneventful second quarter. There are still two wars with no resolution in sight; inflation in the US continues to slowly fall to pre-pandemic levels; interest in AI is at a fevered pitch; the economy appears headed for a soft landing without a widespread recession;…
The S&P 500 has continued its steady ascent that started at the end of last October, finishing the first quarter up about 27% on a price basis since then, and about 10% year-to-date. In 2023 only three sectors outperformed the S&P 500, and by wide margins, but the rally has broadened considerably. In 2024 several more have outperformed or are at least inline,…
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…
Returns for the stock and bond indices below were all modestly negative for the quarter, with an unusually minimal dispersion of returns. Despite this, stocks have rallied over the past twelve months since the S&P 500 was essentially hitting its lows for the year at this point in 2022. Smaller domestic and emerging markets stocks have lagged on a relative…