After a sharp downturn in early August coinciding with an unraveling of the Japanese Carry Trade, the Dow and S&P rallied to end the month in positive territory. The early August downturn was associated with a significant spike in the VIX Index, commonly referred to as the fear gauge, which reached its highest level seen since 2020. Despite the early month weakness, equity markets rebounded as dovish rate expectations were confirmed late in the month by Fed Chair Powell. For the full month of August, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 1.8%, the S&P 500® index was up 2.3%, and the smaller cap-weighted Russell 2000® decreased by 1.6%.