An historic year ended with very positive results for investors.

The stock markets continued their recovery and their apparent disconnect from the economy.

The roller coaster continued for US stocks, with the S&P 500 having its best quarter since 1987.

The quarter began innocently enough, with mixed data (see a brief summary below) and then came March and all bets were off. Ultimately the US stock market suffered its worst quarter in 12 years.

It was, simply put, a great year to be an investor.

Performance for stock markets was not great for the quarter, nor for the trailing year, but how about those year-to-date numbers?

A review of the economy and markets for the second quarter of 2019.

The first quarter was a sharp reversal from the fourth quarter.

What a difference a quarter makes as the stock market went from a stellar third quarter into a slide that began on Oct. 3 and took most markets into bear market territory.

The Markets 09/30/18 Close 06/30/18 Close 3rd Qtr. Change 09/30/17 Close  12 Mo. Change   YTD Change Dow 26,458   24,271   +9.01%    22,405      +18.09%    +7.04% NASDAQ    8,046    7,510  +7.14%     6,496      +23.86%    +16.56% S&P 500    2,914    2,718   +7.21%     2,519      +15.68%     […]