The first half of 2023 is officially in the books, and what a remarkable start to the year it has been. The Nasdaq experienced its best start to the year since the early 80s, surging 32% in the first 6 months of 2023.

The U.S. stock market continues to be extremely volatile, taking its cues from interest rates and the strength of the U.S. Dollar. As evidenced by the chart of the S&P 500 below, the last 12 months have been quite the bumpy ride.

Thankfully, 2022 has come to a close. The severely turbulent year brought an end to the short-lived post-COVID bull market.

The third quarter was a tale of two markets. From June 30th through August 16th, the S&P 500 rallied 14%. Things were actually starting to feel good again for investors.

The first half of the year is now in the books, and with that comes a welcome new quarter. The previous six months have been especially tough for many investors. In fact, 2022 had the worst opening half to a year since 1970.

U.S. equities broke their quarterly winning streak, declining for the first time since the depths of the pandemic. The S&P 500 notched its first quarterly setback since Q1 2020.

Another remarkable year in the stock market has come to a close. Much of the commentary in these pages will address the uncertainty that lies ahead. Before we do that, we should celebrate what 2021 achieved for investors.

For the first time since January, the S&P 500 experienced a down month. While we certainly don’t celebrate down months, they are welcome from time-to-time.

The U.S. stock market continued its relentless move higher. Having posted its best 12 month return in more than 30 years last quarter (56.36%), the S&P 500 Total Return Index cooled off only slightly, recording a 40.33% return for the 12 months ended June 30.

The stock market continues its impressive run. Beginning in March 2009, with what we will call a bear correction (a new term we are coining), through the first month of the COVID pandemic, the S&P 500 is on a twelve-year tear. Bad news is good news, good news is good news, and even no news is good news. The S&P is up 77.57% from its COVID low closing March 23rd of last year through March 31st of this year. That is an impressive run within an impressive run.