Q1 2022 Review The first quarter of 2022 saw a decline in every major asset class except commodities (up 33%). It was the worst first quarter for US bonds in 40 years and global bonds did slightly worse. Inflation continued to soar unabated as the headline CPI rate spiraled upward recording a reading of 7.48% in January, 7.87 % in February, and 8.54% in March.

Market Update Current headlines along with recent stock declines are definitely spooking investors. The Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Federal Reserve signaling rate hikes, and already multi-decade high inflation readings are certainly reasons for concern. With that said, we believe that valuations are approaching healthier levels in the US and are attractive in international markets. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a terrible tragedy, but unfortunately, we have been through many, many of these kinds of global crises before. Despite conflict and pandemic, and terrible political decisions, and a litany of other challenges, the human spirit of innovation and resilience marches on, and as a consequence, the financial markets continue to grow. As long term investors we must keep our eyes on the opportunities that lower prices represent, regardless of the short term reasons.

Q4 2021 Review The fourth quarter of 2021 saw a sharp dispersion in global equity market performance with large US companies strongly outperforming every other market and asset class. This continued a long-term trend in US and S&P 500 specific outperformance.

Q3 2021 Review Global equity market appreciation slowed dramatically in the third quarter, including a sharp reversal in emerging markets due primarily to the strong regulatory crackdown and eroding credit conditions in China.

Q2 2021 Review Global equity markets continued to appreciate in the second quarter of 2021 with a rotation back into the big global technology leaders out of the highest growth companies whose valuations had been stretched to extreme levels in Q1. US small caps also lagged in the quarter. The continued spread and acceleration in some parts of the world of COVID-19 along with a focus in China on potential regulatory actions put headwinds on many international financial markets.

Q1 2021 Review The strong US equity market rally continued into the first quarter of 2021. Small cap stocks continued to lead all equity returns and value stocks staged a rally that has them outperforming growth stocks for the first time in years. The key driver of the strong performance was a realization of significant progress against COVID-19 with U.S. cases dropping from a peak 7-day average of over 256,000 on January 11th to as low as 55,000 in mid-March. The massive improvement along with the rollout of vaccines (now at over 3 million doses per day) convinced market participants that the end is in sight. Economic results supported the strong stock market expectations. The first quarter 2021 real GDP came out this week at a very robust 6.4% annual rate.