At the beginning of 2017, a common view among money managers and analysts was that the financial markets would not repeat their strong returns from 2016. Many cited the uncertain global economy, political turmoil in the US, implementation of Brexit, conflicts in the Middle East, North Korea’s weapons buildup, and other factors. The global equity markets defied their predictions, with major equity indices in the US, developed ex-US, and emerging markets posting strong returns for the year.

The third quarter of 2017 will be remembered as a winner all around – the economy kept delivering positive news and all of the US stock markets performed very well. In fact, the markets essentially saw all regions and sectors return positive gains for investors. For the quarter ending September 30, 2017, the S&P 500 was up 4.0%, the DJIA gained 4.9% and NASDAQ climbed 5.8%.