Investors adjusted expectations in February, as they attempted to decipher how tariffs, government austerity, and unresolved regional wars affect their investments and portfolios. As a result, market interest rates and equity prices declined based on how investors think those broader themes change future investment returns.

More Januarys than not seem to experience positive market returns. A few economic theories attempt to explain why this market anomaly could exist. One theory is some investors sell securities in December for tax purposes and turn into net buyers in January. Well, this January followed historical examples as global markets broadly earned investors returns in January, setting 2025 off with positive momentum.

The New Year holiday is a special time to reflect on what has passed and strive for a better future. A nineteenth-century poet, Alfred Tennyson, succinctly described it as a time to "ring out the old, ring in the new" in his poem, "In Memoriam A.H.H." Investors can likely identify with Tennyson's trope as the most recent chapter in investment history filled with examples of big tech, inflation, and higher for longer market interest rates draws to an end, preparing the next chapter after it for storytellers of the market.