The first quarter of 2024 will go down as the best quarter for U.S. stocks since 2019.

Markets can bend and twist reality in very strange ways when they have decided on a direction. Spoiler alert: The direction right now is upward.

The labor market continues to rebalance, but it’s rebalancing too slowly for the Federal Reserve. Then we received fresh data on Tuesday showing inflation just isn’t coming down.

The end of last week was a classic example of being rewarded for time in the markets and not caving in to emotions or market timing. Are there still concerns? Sure. Are markets being pushed higher by a small group of stocks? Yes!

Market highs got you nervous?

Relax, we've got your back. The Fed, inflation, and world events might stir the pot, but here's the truth: markets crave progress, and yours can too!

The S&P 500's record highs have investors wondering: diamond or bust?

Strong jobs and resilient consumer spending paint a rosy picture, but Fed Chair Powell's hawkish stance and conflicting economic data raise concerns. Is this a "high-pressure economy" forging a robust market, or a bubble primed to burst?

Remember the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld? Well, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell channeled his inner “Soup Nazi” with an emphatic “No rate cuts for you” last Wednesday.

After a rough first couple of weeks to open 2024, markets have been ripping the past week and a half. We’ve settled into an interesting environment where the talk has gone from a hard landing, recession and four rate hikes in 2023 to a soft landing and six possible rate cuts in 2024.

The consumer hasn’t gotten tired of spending — at least not yet. December retail sales, released last Wednesday, were strong and easily exceeded expectations. The latest consumer sentiment number also came out last week, jumping to its highest level in nearly three years.

Last week was a short one for trading, bookended by the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Markets closed up again last week, with the S&P 500 marking its ninth straight weekly gain — the longest stretch in 20 years.

Christmas came early this year for investors. Colloquially known as a “Santa Claus rally,” the market experienced an upward bounce in the latter half of November. On the equities side, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw their best monthly gains (8.9% and 10.7%) since July 2020. Over on the bonds side, U.S. Treasury yields continued to drop and the bond market had its best monthly gain in nearly 40 years.

Markets continued to climb back toward end-of-July highs last week. After the Federal Reserve’s last meeting and a softer jobs number indicated a slowing economy, markets began to look for additional confirmation of easing inflation. That arrived with a flourish last week (more in the next section) and all but sealed the end of additional interest rate hikes.

Stocks opened the week strong, with the S&P 500 marking the 15th consecutive Monday of gains. But deepening tensions in the Middle East weighed on markets by mid-week, and shares fell sharply on Thursday following reports that a U.S. Navy destroyer had shot down cruise missiles reportedly headed toward Israel.

Despite the conflict in Israel, markets rallied early last week, and the potential for added turmoil in the Middle East had not had any measurable impact on the markets through the middle of the week.

Markets continued to slump last week as bond rates hit levels we haven’t seen in 16 years. Suddenly, a five-year treasury yielding 4.7% isn’t so bad when compared to the volatility of the stock market.

The month of September is historically a rough month for markets — and this year was no exception. Rising gas prices and high mortgage rates weighed on markets throughout the month. Then the prospect of a potential government shutdown pulled stocks down even further last week.

The Federal Reserve didn’t raise rates last week but left the door open for one more rate hike in the final two meetings of 2023. This was widely expected, but markets still didn’t like Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments in his post-meeting press conference.

Stocks closed lower last week, even as the latest data shows the U.S. is still doing well from an economic standpoint. Not a lot of new numbers were released, but the ones that were generally surprised on the upside.

Markets didn’t know which direction to go last week as they tried to decide which had more weight: the good news or the not-so-good news.