In the first quarter US Stocks were down while International Stocks and Global Real Estate were up. In the Bond market it was the opposite, where US Bonds were up and International Bonds were down for the first quarter.  When we zoom out a little further and look at the one-year number ending in March of 2025, US and non-US stocks and bonds are all up between 4 – 8% in the last 12 months.

Markets around the world were volatile in the fourth quarter of 2024. While US Stocks and Global Bonds were up in the fourth quarter, International Stocks, Global Real Estate and US Bonds were all down in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Stocks did well around the world with US Stocks being up over 10% and International Stocks being up over 2% to almost 6%. Inflation stayed persistent, which led to higher interest rates, which hurts both Real Estate, as well as International and US bonds, which were all below their long-term averages for the quarter.

2023 started rather flat, but that really turned around in the fourth quarter as stocks and bonds, both in the US and around the world, gained between  5-15%.

So, in the first nine months (the first three quarters of 2022) stock markets were down more than 20%, bond markets were down more than 10%, but really since then it’s been a completely different story. In the fourth quarter of 2022 stocks were up across the board – high single digits, even double digits in some markets, and bonds started to be positive in the fourth quarter of 2022, as well.

In the third quarter trends continued – U.S and non-US stocks, and bonds all went down in the third quarter as they did in Q1 and Q2. Stocks were down more than bonds. If we zoom out a little bit more and we look at the one-year numbers, which includes the fourth quarter of 2021, a diversified portfolio of global stocks is down basically 20 – 25% and bonds 10 – 15% percent.

In the first quarter markets across the board – stocks, bonds, real estate, US and non-US are kind of down across the board, mid-single digits and that’s continued in April and the first part of May. It’s quite unusual for all major asset classes go down at once and all go down about the same amount, but that’s what we’ve seen in 2022, so far.

Hello, this is Josh Wolberg and I’m happy to announce a new brand, Great River Financial. As many of you know we’ve been providing investment management and financial planning services through Resources Investment Advisors, our back office located in the Kansas City area.

Retirement planning is more than money; it’s the peace of mind to enjoy retirement.