Noise in the markets

It’s generally been a good year for the markets so far. The S&P 500 is up 14.8% YTD. Things have started to stabilize a bit on the inflation front and rate cuts seem to be on the horizon.

As we head into the second half of the year, there seems to be a lot of fear around potential war in the Middle East and the election coming up. As I write this, the S&P 500 is down 1.8% today.

For personal reasons, I don’t pay much attention to the daily changes in the market. I invest for the long-term so the daily fluctuations are simply noise to me.

For work though, we’re also in it for the long-haul and I feel fortunate to not work in a finance job where the daily changes in the market impact my decisions greatly. Of course, we do pay attention to what’s happening in the public markets as it impacts our views in the private markets.

No one likes to see red days like today and no one knows what will happen in these next few months for sure. I do know that there will be a lot more red days and perhaps weeks/months ahead. We knew this could be a tough Q3 and possibly Q4 due to the events in the world.

We’re bracing ourselves, but also hoping for the best. It’s part of the cost of being an investor.