The year of 2021 was wild, full of surprises and yet a historic one for the markets. Stocks overcame numerous headwinds, including a contested presidential election, an assault of the U.S. Capitol, historically high inflation, supply chain disruptions, the still raging global pandemic and the resurgence in COVID cases due to the new variants. The
Continue Reading

Equity returns for the last year and a half have been in a constant steady growth mode since the steep decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The positive momentum continued in the beginning of the third quarter of 2021, with the broad market indexes reaching a series of all-time highs in July and August, powered
Continue Reading

After an already strong start to the year, U.S. equity markets continued to post solid returns in the second quarter, thanks to the ongoing global vaccine rollout combined with fiscal support from the government. The S&P 500, a benchmark for large capitalization domestic companies, gained 8.6% for the quarter and was up 15.3% at the
Continue Reading

The first quarter of 2021 was a turning point in both the pandemic in the United States and the economic damage it has caused. Stocks have not lost any of their luster from the end of last year. Despite a few episodes of heightened volatility, the equity markets marched steadily higher in the first quarter
Continue Reading

The year of 2020 is mercifully behind us. It was a truly extraordinary year for the entire world and even more so for financial markets. The year started with the impeachment of an American President, followed by a pandemic that infected millions all over the world, a global recession which this pandemic caused, a bear
Continue Reading

The third quarter of a rather eventful 2020 saw the stock market’s continued recovery from the March lows earlier in the year. Equities climbed higher, with the broad U.S. indices soaring to new all-time highs before paring back some gains in September. Overall, it was the second consecutive quarter of notable market advances. Both the
Continue Reading

When the second quarter began, the stock market was just beginning to recover from one of the worst and quickest declines in history. By the end of June, U.S. stocks registered healthy gains, closing out a more upbeat quarter that saw strong advances across all equity markets. The S&P 500 Index posted its best quarter
Continue Reading

Global stock prices suffered a sharp first quarter fall as the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a global economic shutdown. This pandemic-driven selloff, heightened by turmoil in the global oil markets, was unprecedented in its speed and severity. From February 19th to March 23rd, the U.S. stock market lost over 30% of its value. The Dow Jones
Continue Reading

2019 turned out to be a good year for the U.S. economy and an excellent one for investment returns with stocks bouncing back from a difficult 2018. From the beginning of the year, January’s rally helped set the tone in which the market responded to every downturn with a more sustained upswing. Along the way,
Continue Reading

The third quarter seemingly packed a year’s worth of market action into three fast moving months. Regardless of your stock market, interest rate or economic viewpoint, there was something for everyone in this fluid and volatile quarter. It began in bullish fashion as most of the major stock benchmarks jumped to all-time highs in the
Continue Reading