Insightful Ideas

After a historically strong start to the year, markets have now pulled back to begin the second quarter. Concerns around geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, inflation, corporate earnings, and other issues have led to a market decline, pushing the VIX index of stock market volatility to its highest level in six months. In times of market stress, it’s important for investors to maintain perspective on the critical issues and not overreact to headlines.

After a strong return in 2023, US equity markets continued to rally in the first quarter of 2024 with the S&P 500 Index climbing to another record high to close out the quarter, notching a total of 22 new all-time highs to start the year.