To Inform:

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve received the same general question from friends, clients, and fund companies visiting our office: “with everything happening in markets with the war in Iran, are clients freaking out?”

I’m pleased to say, every time, the answer has been, “No, clients seem pretty calm about it all!” But why are clients so calm? I think when we look at markets today, there are three key reasons.

The S&P 500 hit a record high this week. Markets in general have been resilient, but investors may be surprised to know U.S. stocks are not only positive YTD, the S&P 500 set a new all-time record high.

At the end of March, the S&P 500 did have a minor correction of close to 10% which put the index in negative territory for 2026; however, during  the first two weeks of April, the index recovered those losses and then some. Through 4/16/2026, the S&P 500 is up about 3.2% and is adding more to that total today as I type.

Source: Yahoo Finance

It’s not just U.S. stocks – everything is up. When we look across asset classes, investors are pretty much winning no matter where they are invested. Here is a summary of the year-to-date performance of mainstream asset classes through 4/16/2026 (data from Morningstar):

• High Quality Bonds: +0.6%
• High Yield/Junk Bonds: +1.1%
• International Stocks: +9.0%
• Commodities: +21.3%
• Global Real Estate: +9.6%

Year-to-date, every asset category we look at in portfolios is positive so far meaning diversified investors have generally been happy.

Many objectives-based portfolios we have the privilege of managing for clients contain “Real Assets.” I was recently in a “study group” meeting with other local advisors and we were discussing how much of a general portfolio was in stocks vs. bonds. When it came around to me, I said “I don’t know because we don’t just look at stocks and bonds!”

We include “Real Assets” within many of the portfolios we have the privilege of managing for clients because they can serve as an effective hedge against unexpected inflation and in some cases geopolitical events. We define real assets as:

• Global Real Estate – e.g.: warehouses, data centers, nursing homes
• Infrastructure – e.g.: utilities, airports, oil pipelines, cell towers
• Natural Resource Equities – e.g.: stocks of companies involved in oil and gas exploration, agriculture, mining
• Commodities – e.g.: oil, gold, copper, wheat

The chart below from Cohen and Steers shows how Real Assets may be combined to help meet portfolio objectives.

Real assets can provide an extra layer of diversification. So far in 2026, they have not only been market leaders, they have helped reduce volatility in portfolios.

Source: Cohen and Steers

One of the people I was with at dinner last night said, “it’s a rough economy.” That may be true, but one of our favorite adages is “the market is not the economy.” We’re definitely seeing that as investors benefit from positive returns in 2026.

Written by Travis Upton, Partner and Chief Executive Officer