The third quarter of 2024 continued the bull market that we’ve been enjoying for nearly a year now. While investors tend to focus on the US stock market’s strong 6.23% return, interestingly the rest of the equity market did even better with the global real estate market taking the cake with a 16.04% return for the quarter! Next was emerging markets at 8.72% and then international stocks with a 7.76% return. The bond markets also held strong keeping our “safety assets” secure while producing positive returns.
All these great returns happened despite a dip in early August when investors were concerned about slowed job growth. As we always say, it’s imperative to ignore the noise. It may have felt grim for a few days but optimism soon returned. Then in September, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by half of a percentage point. This contributed to continued stock growth as companies are now able to borrow money at a lower rate as they continue to invest in new and innovative goods and services.
