It was the Best of Times, Then The Worst of Times | Steve Henderly, CFA
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”… the famous opening line from Charles Dickens’ novel, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ seems one of the most frequently used quotes when it comes to financial market commentaries. That’s probably because so often the mood in markets appears to change abruptly and with little warning.
It’s hard to believe that just seven weeks ago the S&P 500 was basking at all-time highs. But since that time, the S&P500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes officially entered a “correction” (defined as a pullback of 10% or more) in March. The S&P500 finished the quarter down -4.3%. The Magnificent 7 constituents, representing the heaviest weights in both the S&P and Nasdaq are at the epicenter of weakness – Nvidia down -19%, Tesla off -35% for the 1Q.