First Quarter 2018 Market Perspective

For the first time in ten quarters, most global developed equity markets declined in value for the period ending March 31, 2018. The-tech heavy NASDAQ was able to advance, along with emerging market equities. 

The year began with rampant optimism around equities as individual sentiment hit a record high and January marked the fifteenth consecutive monthly gain for the S&P 500. However, by the second week in February equity markets began to experience significant volatility. In the first seventy-one trading days of 2018, the S&P 500 has had twenty-eight days of 1% change or greater, often with swings in either direction on alternating days. By contrast, there were only eight such days for all of 2017… READ MORE