Mathew Remington-Edward Jones-Financial Advisor

As we head into the second quarter of 2023, the strength in the market this year so far has been notable. The S&P 500 is up about 6.0%, while the investment-grade bond market is up a healthy 4.5%. Keep in mind, though, that recent gains in stocks were largely driven by valuation expansion, as price-to-earnings ratios climbed higher.

Despite these healthy market gains, the path forward in the near term may be challenging, especially as the economy weakens and potentially enters a mild recession. Nonetheless, for long-term investors, there may be opportunities forming in the months ahead, particularly as markets start to look past the economic slowdown toward a recovery period. Read more in our Weekly Market Wrap.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

In just over two weeks, the uncertainty in the U.S. regional and global banking system has notably altered the path of financial markets and potentially the path of the Federal Reserve. For the Fed, it now has a balancing act to navigate – supporting the banking system with liquidity on one hand and battling inflation with interest rate increases on the other. In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we discuss how we see opportunities forming in both the equity and bond space in the months ahead, beyond the more recent defensive posturing, as markets start to look past the economic downturn and toward a recovery ahead.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

After a strong start to the year, market volatility seems to have returned. While we would expect market volatility to continue near-term, we are also watching for key inflection points that may indicate the early innings of a more sustainable rally ahead. We highlight three potential conditions that we believe would support better market returns longer term: 1) inflation moving lower, 2) the Federal Reserve pausing its rate-hiking cycle, and 3) earnings revisions bottoming.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.

After a strong and steady rally to start 2023, markets have seen a return of volatility of late, including a decline last week spurred by renewed concerns over further interest rate hikes from the Fed. This is not a new issue, but it has prompted markets to reevaluate expectations for the economy ahead. No two cycles are exactly the same, but we do think there are noteworthy similarities between current conditions and those in the 2001 bear market.

In our latest Weekly Market Wrap, we discuss the parallels with the past and what they suggest about what might lay ahead for investors.

Weekly market wrap A summary of last week's market highlights and economic news.