Reviewing the markets last week and looking at performance for this past year
December 13, 2021
Welcome to Wealth Enhancement & Preservation’s Market Minute, where we get to update you on everything that happened in the financial markets this week. My name is Armand Glassman, and I am a partner at Wealth E&P and work as the Chief Portfolio Manager and a Certified Financial Planner™.
I want to share with you a few thoughts on what a great year we've had, at least in equity markets. Last week, the DOW was up a little over 4%. The NASDAQ 100 and the S&P 500 were up almost 4%, but not quite.
It was a really good week and a really good year. In fact, if you look back 65 years, with the S&P 500 being started in 1957, this year would rank in the top 10 performance years for the S&P 500 if the markets were to shut today.
That's great performance, and we've had two out of the last three years in the top ten. 2019 was really terrific, with the S&P up almost 32%; we're looking at almost 27% this year, with fantastic results. Even last year, with the S&P struggling during March and the COVID-19 craziness, it still was up over 18% for the year. This is far above the average return, which is about 9% over the life of the index. So, it was a great year to be in equities, and we've participated in that.
There are some troubling things, though. Inflation ticked up to almost 7% based on the latest government statistics, and that's on an annualized basis. Bonds continue to struggle, as the aggregate bond index (AGG) is down almost 1.5% this year. Treasury yields continue to be very poor and at historic lows, at 1.8% on the 30-year and 1.5% (or even a little less than that) on the 10-year.
There are also geopolitical concerns with China showing threatening moves against Taiwan and Russia showing some threats to Ukraine. We continue to have COVID-19 fears with the latest Omicron outbreak, but all of that has not dampened the stock market. It continues to roll along and produce great results.
I certainly hope that you are enjoying this holiday season and that you're looking forward with anticipation for the new year. I hope it's a happy and healthy one for you and your family! If you have any other questions on this or anything else, if you want a risk profile, or if you would like a retirement projection, please feel free to reach out or visit www.wealthep.com. Otherwise, stay tuned for our Market Minute next week!
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