Quarterly Market Reviews

The “I’s” had it across the first quarter, as inflation and interest rates continued to dominate popular financial headlines. That is, at least, until the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown took over, followed by the government’s swift reaction to the same.

Every January, it’s typical to reflect on market data from the year past. You’ll see the results in your own quarterly reports, as well as across the usual flurry of broad market analyses.

Well, it’s official. The third quarter has ended in bear market territory across multiple markets. To place that news in a meaningful context, we pose two questions:

Welcome to the second half of 2022. What’s up next? As always, your guess is as good as ours. If anything, the past quarter has demonstrated how even familiar shores can shape-shift on us with each tide.

Just like that, two years have passed since spring 2020. Two years since none of us had a clue how long COVID would linger… nor how quickly today would arrive. Time can confound us that way, magically managing to crawl and fly at the same time.

Today, in a whole new year, let’s talk about parts versus wholes. The theme is hardly new, but it bears repeating, lest we forget how essential they both are — to each other, to us, and to our financial well-being.

Sixty years after imagining the project, and after both had passed away, why did the famed artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in silvery-blue fabric and red rope (which became an especially ethereal nighttime display)? 

As we swing into the second half of 2021, consider this quote from a book first published back in 1954: 

“A river cannot, we are told, rise above its source. Well, it can seem to if there is a pumping station concealed somewhere about.” 

My, what a quarter it’s been. At work and play, who isn’t eager for this summer to be the most awesome one ever? 

We’re seeing similar pent-up yearnings in an array of analysts’ second-quarter financial forecasts:

If Q1 2017 had a theme song, it might be, “There’s a Kind of Hush All Over the World.”

There was the usual stream of global news. To name a few highlights: