Stocks posted a strong first quarter, with the S&P 500 market-cap weighted index returning 10.6%. The S&P 500 equal-weighted index gained 7.9%, demonstrating broad-based gains across individual stocks. AI-related stocks continued to lead the rest of the market. The Federal Reserve decided to maintain the benchmark interest rate range of 5.25%-5.5% at their March meeting. […]
Continue Reading ›December 2023 Monthly Market Update
The end of the year always seems to be when pundits and forecasters come out with a bevy of predictions. We’ll highlight the positives and negatives for markets in the year ahead, but first, let’s have a look at the past year. Coming into 2023, markets faced a general pessimism. Reuters polls of economists put […]
Continue Reading ›November 2023 Monthly Market Update
November was a strong month for U.S. equities, with the S&P 500 finishing up 9%. The interest rate on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell from the 5% recent high in October, ending the month at 4.35%. U.S. Bonds, as measured by the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, realized their best monthly gains since 1985. […]
Continue Reading ›October 2023 Monthly Market Update
October is notoriously a volatile month for risk assets, and this year it marked a month the S&P 500 index crossed into correction territory (defined as a greater than 10% drop from a recent peak) with interest rates on U.S. Treasuries reaching multi-year highs. The S&P 500 index crossed the correction threshold intra-month but rallied […]
Continue Reading ›September 2023 Monthly Market Update
September brought a notable shift in the markets, with the S&P 500 index experiencing a 5% decline. Bonds did not fare much better, as the U.S. Aggregate Bond index fell 3%. This decline was due to the continued increase in longer-term interest rates. The U.S. 10-year treasury yield reached 4.6%, while the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage […]
Continue Reading ›August 2023 Monthly Market Update
Stocks sold off in early August as bond yields climbed. The S&P 500 index was down 5% from the end of July through August 18th as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield reached its highest level since 2007, exceeding 4.3%. The S&P 500 clawed back some of its August losses in the latter half of the […]
Continue Reading ›July 2023 Monthly Market Update
Stocks rallied in July amid low volatility with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recording 13 straight days of gains. The S&P 500 index climbed 3% on the month, on broad strength among sectors and stocks. Improving market breadth comes as a healthy change vs. the first six months of the year when the S&P 500’s […]
Continue Reading ›June 2023 Monthly Market Update
The S&P 500 stock market index rallied 8% in the second quarter, bringing year-to-date gains to 16%. The phrase “it’s a market of stocks, not a stock market” has perhaps never been more appropriate. The S&P 500 is market capitalization-weighted; meaning higher valuations hold larger weights in the index’s overall performance. More than 2/3 of […]
Continue Reading ›May 2023 Monthly Market Update
May was the month of AI for the stock market, though artificial intelligence-related stocks had been gaining momentum since the fall release of OpenAI’s Chat-GPT3. This groundbreaking technology has sparked enthusiasm among investors, and its potential impact on companies and the economy cannot be ignored. Semiconductor designer Nvidia’s May 24th earnings announcement and guidance stoked […]
Continue Reading ›April 2023 Monthly Market Update
April was a relatively calm month for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 advanced 1.6%, continuing a strong start to the year; the index has now risen 9.2% through April. Nevertheless, gains in the popular U.S. benchmark index have not been broad-based. The S&P 500 is a market-capitalization-weighted stock index of the 500 largest U.S. public […]
Continue Reading ›March 2023 Monthly Market Update
The first quarter of 2023 saw some progress in inflation data and a surge in investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, the March failures of Silicon Valley and Signature Banks were the story of the quarter. Bank failures are not out of the ordinary. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) counts just five years without […]
Continue Reading ›February 2023 Monthly Market Update
February was a case of good news is bad news, or to be more specific, good economic data was bad news for stocks and bonds. Economic data continues to point to a resilient US economy, shrugging off higher interest rates. Retail sales reaccelerated in recent months, with real (after inflation) incomes on the rise. Fourth […]
Continue Reading ›