When I walk my dog, I’m struck by how obsessive he is about his actions. He will spend, what seems to me, like a ridiculous amount of time searching for the perfect spot to relieve himself—re-positioning himself countless times as if the future of the free world depends upon the outcome. For him, this process is vital to is existence—to me, it is a waste of time. The animal brain is dominated by what it chooses to focus on.

What a difference a year makes. But I don’t need to tell you this. Anyone who’s gone through the last few years knows this to be true. Since, 2018 we’ve seen our share of whipsaw action in financial markets—from Christmas Eve stock market collapse in 2018, to Covid crash in 2020 followed by the Covid market explosion in the second half of 2020, to the meme stock insanity of 2021, and finally the bear market of 2022.

Last week we closed the door on the first half of 2022, and from a market perspective the end couldn’t come soon enough. Here is a rundown of the performance of major assets: