After a very tough first quarter and brutal start to April, the markets have recovered and at some levels are near all-time highs.  The S&P 500 bounce back in the second quarter still only brought it to a plus 5.2% gain.  Lagging the rest of the world by over 10 percentage points. 

Much of the performance in the S&P 500 is weighted to the Magnificent 7 stocks. We have been encouraging investors to diversify some to the other 493 companies and international markets to find more opportunities.  

Year to date US stocks were up about 6%, developed markets Ex-U.S. were up 19%.   Bonds had a good first half with investment grade corporates up 4.2%.  The top performing sector was Industrials +12.5% with Consumer Discretionary bringing up the rear performing at -4%.

My thinking on the second half is very much the same as the beginning of 2025.  Caution.  Raise some cash, trim larger concentrated positions, then use that cash during market disruptions or corrections to add new companies to your portfolio.  Early April was one of those situations.

There are 9 Key tax law changes for individuals to make note of.  Please see the article from the CST Group of CPAs for some changes coming in 2026 and beyond.

I thought my counterpart CIO, Kara Murphy with our friends at Kestra had a nice summary of what happened in the first half of 2025 in the markets. From Bear Scare to Record Highs – A Resilient Q2 Recap.

All the best for your summer.