2nd Quarter 2024 Market Commentary

Four growth stocks – NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet – contributed over 100% of the S&P 500’s 4.3% return during the second quarter. The average stock in the index declined, as exemplified by the -2.2% return of the Russell 1000 Value Index. Developed ex-US stocks were slightly negative, and emerging markets outperformed the US. Major bond indexes showed positive returns that were generally below income accrued during the quarter, reflecting small declines as the market adjusts for a ‘higher for longer’ interest rate scenario.

The whole concept of glamour stocks is a perfect reproduction of 1929, and to an extraordinary extent, the industries are the same. In 1929 the glamour stock was an electronic concern – RCA – although the word electronics had not yet been invented. Investors felt there must be magic in any industrial process they did not understand, and they still feel that way.– John Kenneth Galbraith, New York Times, May 3, 1970

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