Market Volatility

Taking a look back at U.S. equity markets over the last two decades points to some alarming trends. Markets did very little in the first several years of the 21st century. It was only after the massive quantitative easing and ultra-low rate policies introduced to battle the Great Recession that stock markets began to really wake up and start moving higher. Year after year, stock markets did exactly that, with few interruptions along the way to fresh all-time highs reached in January of 2022, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a whopping 36,799.65 on a closing basis. Stocks have, unsurprisingly to many, pulled back significantly since that high was hit, with the Dow Jones now sitting around the 33,500 level. 

The last two decades, especially the most recent decade, have been filled with extremely volatile trading days. Numerous circuit-breaking sessions have been seen, and many days of the Dow declining by over 1000 points. To put that into perspective, the great decline of Black Monday, 1987, saw the Dow shed 508 points. 

With volatility likely here to stay, investors are now realizing the importance and necessity of owning hard assets that may not experience the same volatility as stocks and paper assets. That makes now the ideal time to consider adding physical gold to your portfolio.