Despite a late-quarter rally, high-quality fixed income had a difficult start to 2018, but the ride over the remainder of the year could be smoother. The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, a good representation of the broad high-quality bond market, returned -1.5% during the first quarter of 2018. This was the 14^th worst quarter since the index’s inception in 1968. It could have been even worse, but the index rallied 0.5% during the last week of the quarter, offsetting some of the headwinds from earlier in the year.

Familiar Foe

Rising yields, and thus falling bond prices, have been the main cause of pain for

Market volatility resurfaced in the first quarter of 2018, following the stock market’s calm and steady rise in 2017. This week’s Weekly Market Commentary recaps first quarter stock market performance, discusses some of the themes that were in play, and summarizes our outlook for the rest of the year.

A Look Back at Q1

Stocks fell slightly in the first quarter, losing 0.8% on a total return basis and ending a streak of nine quarterly wins for the S&P 500 Index. The return of volatility was the big story of the quarter (besides the bull market’s ninth birthday), as the index suffered its first 10% correcti

After such a calm 2017, it was reasonable to expect higher volatility in 2018, and February and March certainly delivered. As the quarter came to a close, the S&P 500 Index finally snapped a nine-quarter win streak, but we think the bull market still has legs. As we turn the calendar to April, plenty of rain will be in the forecast, however the future might not be so cloudy with earnings season underway and fresh economic data for investors to assess.

We’ve created this quick guide outlining key events on the April 2018 market calendar to help investors get ready for the new month.

April 11

CPI

Inflat

The spread between the three-month London Interbank Offering Rate (LIBOR) and the Overnight Indexed Swap (OIS) has widened to its highest level since 2008. This increase may be grabbing headlines, but in our view it is not portending anything ominous at this point. The three-month LIBOR is a good proxy for interbank lending, as it tracks the rate at which banks are willing to lend money to each other. It stands at 2.29% (as of March 23, 2018). OIS uses an overnight index rate, such as the overnight fed funds rate, making it a good proxy for central bank rates. It currently stands at 1.70%. Thus the spread between the two can be seen as an ind