Where has this year gone?

I had a crazy realization today that it’s been pretty much a year and a half since the pandemic started. We’re closer to Christmas 2021 than we are to New Years and this year has flown by. Football season is upon us and quite frankly I am excited for wedding season to be over. I could use a long vacation of doing nothing after all this summer travel.

Onto the markets.

The S&P 500 is up 17.8% and the Nasdaq is at 14.5% YTD. It sure doesn’t feel like a year of gains given everything going on. If you had asked me to guess based on feeling and sentiment, I would’ve thought we’d be in a down year. I suppose after what happened in H2 last year, everything is going to seem calm and slow. The public markets seem to be chugging along despite some fears about the delta variant and another shut down.

On the private market side, valuations are through the roof. Deal activity both in the M&A and VC space is at unprecedented levels. There doesn’t seem to be an end either. Funds are raising more money at again, unprecedented levels. Even Blackstone launched a growth equity arm recently.

It’s the best time to start a business in the history of the world due to VCs willing to pour money into companies. It’ll continue to be a great time to start a business for the foreseeable future given how much ammo these funds are accumulating right now.

I have no idea how it all ends, but hey the roaring 20s are here and let’s hope it lasts awhile.