From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley
So far, 2022 has been a historic year. That theme intensified during the second quarter, which is now in the books.
The bond market is working on one of its worst years on record. The S&P 500 just posted its worst quarterly return since 1970 with the index down more than 16% from January through March.
Bitcoin finished the quarter with its second-worst return in its short history. And now the energy sector – the market’s leader this year – just posted its third-worst monthly return since the 1990s.
The operative words here are “worst” and “return.”
That’s 2022 in a nutshell. The bears are in complete control.
However, one area that has held up through all this is commodities. It was the best-performing asset class in 2021, and it’s the only one to close the first half of 2022 in the green.
Let’s note that the first quarter of 2022 was far different from the second. And before we go running to commodities for safety, let’s put the group’s recent performance in perspective. [Read more…]