2024 Q3 Review and Outlook – The Fed Cuts, the Election Looms

Markets continued to rise in the third quarter as stocks (as measured by the S&P 500 SPDR ETF – SPY) gained 5.8%. The U.S. bond market (as measured by the US Aggregate Bond ETF – AGG) gained 5.3%, and a 60% stock/40% bond portfolio recorded a 5.6% total return. Year to date, stocks returned 21.9%,…