Two weeks ago, when I wrote my blog post on the 2024 Q3 review titled “Stimulus, Stocks and a September Surge”, I was careful to not be too zealous with my assessment of the economy and the markets.
I opened that blog post with these thoughts:
Easing inflation, mostly stable employment, good economic growth, and an accommodative Fed are all bullish indicators for a stock market to perform well and that is what we saw during 2024 Q3
And closed it with this thought:
If you asked us what we think the market will do we would say “Beats Me!”, but most client accounts would have some exposures to the asset classes that are leading the markets at most any time.
So, it goes without saying that I am pleased that the markets have delivered on expectations carrying forward the momentum from Q3. The S&P 500 (IVV) has now reached another all-time high yesterday with a 2024 year-to-date return of +24.2%; on top of a 2023 YTD return of +26.3%! Also, we are starting to see some good broadening of strength in the other diversifying asset classes that I always talk about including small/mid-cap equities, some factor exposure, and international and emerging markets. Plus, fixed income has mostly behaved and has not been too much of a drag while smoothing performance.
As I have reported, most client accounts have been overweighted to equities during 2024 and fixed income has been managed to a shorter duration to reduce interest rate risk. Clients have reaped the benefits of these strategies. D&A is a long term investor and we target investment portfolio strategies to help clients achieve their goals. We avoid behavioral bias, do not try to time the market, and stay-the-course as long as conditions warrant it.