The stock market continued its strong start to 2021 with the S&P 500 advancing 4.38% in March bringing the year-to-date returns to 6.17%. Even more impressive is the one-year return of 56.31%, coinciding with market bottom of March 24, 2020 caused by the COVID-19 induced market selloff.

The 10-year U.S. treasury rate crossed above 1% in January for the first time since March 2020. The committee still has a higher probability of rising long-term rates which, combined with a low-income starting point, keeps bonds still unattractive in our view.

In the worst weekly selloff since October, the markets were down across the largest global indices. The S&P 500 declined 3.29%, the Russell 200 lost 4.38%, and the NASDAQ was down 3.48%. The international developed markets index (MSCI EAFE) dropped 3.45% and the emerging markets index (MSCI EM) lost 4.44%.