The first quarter was very eventful and brought a change of tone to markets. We started the year on a decent foot, but stocks weakened in mid-February amid political and economic uncertainty. While the S&P 500® Index finished the quarter down only 4.3% year-to-date (worst start to a year since 2020), other indices were worse as evidenced by declines of 9.5% and 10.4%, respectively, for the Russell 2000® Index and NASDAQ Composite® Index. Furthermore, the S&P retreated 8.5% from its highs and temporarily entered “correction” territory (down 10% or more) in early March. According to CNBC, 203 stocks in the S&P 500 were down more than 20% from their highs as of March 10th.