1st Quarter 2021 Market Summary
The S&P 500 Index closed at 3,972.89 on 3/31/21, 0.04% below its all-time closing high of 3,974.54 on 3/26/21.In March, all 11 major sectors that comprise the index were up on a total return basis. The top-performer was Utilities, up 10.51%, while the worst showing came from Information Technology, up 1.69%. The S&P 500 Index posted a total return of 6.17% year to-date through 3/31/21.Again, all 11 major sectors were up on a total return basis. The top performer was Energy, up 30.84%, while the
4th Quarter 2020 Review
ThoughtsAt the end of the third quarter I referenced Rip Van Winkle as if to say had you slept and not paid attention to the equity markets between March and October you never would have known they dropped over 25% …and then rallied all the way back to even. Sleeping till Jan 1 2021 you also would have avoided knowing about COVID 19, that you were locked down, a presidential election took place and 2020 was the second most volatile year since the 1930’s. Oh, and then you would have thought the
4th Quarter 2020 Market Summary
The S&P 500 Index closed at 3,756.07 on 12/31/20, another all-time high.In spite of COVID 19 and all the talking heads in 2020, the S&P 500 Index posted a total return of 18.39%. Eight of the 11 major sectors were up on a total return basis.The top-performer was Information Technology, up 43.89%, while the worst showing came from Energy, down 33.68%. A Bloomberg survey of 17 equity strategists found that their average 2021 year-end price target for the S&P 500 Index was 4,035 as of 12/12/20. The
3rd Quarter 2020 Review
End of the 3rd quarter of what maybe the strangest year in my 35 in the business. If you were Rip Van Winkle and had fallen asleep on January 1 you would have woken up October 1st to a world where people were working from home, had adopted all the dogs at the dog shelters and everyone is sporting a new accessory…a mask. Some strange turn of events. But what wouldn’t have been strange would be the stock market return. Rip would wake to a market that was up 5.57 ( total return) for the year,