As we call game, set, and match for the year that was 2024, we look forward to yet another round of intense competitive play over the next twelve months.

This quarter, we played our usual game of “tag” with the broader stock indexes.

This quarter, the invisible thermals holding the S&P 500 aloft continued to lift the market to ever greater heights.

The market surged this quarter and, somewhat uncharacteristically for such a breathless sprint (especially one fueled principally by tech), our stocks outpaced it.

To paraphrase Tom Lehrer, 2022 was the year that was. And indeed, what a year it was: the bomb cyclone that buried a large swath of the lower 48 in deep drifts and paralyzing cold seemed a fitting grand finale for a year that began with real bombs of the detonating sort, aimed at Kyiv and the Ukrainian people.

In many ways, it was a Cruel Summer. Extreme weather, multiple high-profile strikes, and the threat of yet another government shutdown cast long shadows.