January 2022 was a challenging month and a reminder that market volatility is inevitable, even “normal.” Higher interest rates, ongoing supply constraints, and spiking Omicron infections led stock markets lower.

After a stellar and unusually calm year for stocks in 2021, so far 2022 might appear almost chaotic by comparison, with markets experiencing a sharp correction in January.

2021 delivered another stellar year in US stock markets. The S&P 500 index, a commonly used benchmark to measure the US stock market, generated 26.9% excluding dividends¹.

US equities continued its winning streak driven by ongoing economic recovery and strong corporate earnings.

Despite a slew of concerns including new COVID variants, inflation and supply chain disruptions, here are three surprisingly positive events that have shaped the markets in 2021.

The equity markets declined in November over concerns of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron.

October was a strong month for equities, following a tough September. Despite ongoing concerns about supply chain disruptions and inflation, strong Q3 corporate earnings lifted the US stock market to reach new all-time highs.

In the November Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Fed policymakers left interest rates near zero but also announced a plan to start winding down or ‘tapering’ its bond purchasing program.

While inflation is higher and likely to remain elevated due to challenges created by the pandemic, a look into the structural composition and the types of inflation may provide insight into how high inflation may go.

Equities eked out a 0.6% gain for the third quarter driven by a select handful of large technology companies.

A safe haven during the 2020 pandemic, gold rose 20.9%¹ and outperformed the S&P 500 index which gained 18.7%. However, the commodity has slowed down in 2021 and is down -4.7% for the year² despite widespread inflation concerns.

US stocks climbed higher for the seventh straight month, gaining 3.0% in August.

If you know anyone who is in the market for a home, then you have likely heard anecdotes on how they were outbid multiple times with offers higher than the asking price.

US stocks rallied and reached all-time highs in July, returning 2.4% for the month.

There are two key measures of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) preferred measure of Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE).

As the global economy recovers from the pandemic with varying degrees of success, global stock and bond markets posted broad gains in the second quarter.

While meme stocks have generated supersized returns, it has done so with supersized risk as well.

US stocks cooled off to end the month up 0.7% after climbing to new highs in early May amid fears of rising inflation, maintaining strong gains of 12.6% for the year.

Despite the assumption many have that increasing tax rates would sink stocks, historically, markets have generated positive returns in the wake of tax increases.

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to be a major theme, but the focus has shifted from the number of cases and hospitalizations to the number of people being vaccinated and progress towards “normalcy”.