Stocks were under significant pressure in the second quarter and officially entered bear market territory. The S&P 500® Index and Russell 2000® Index declined 16.1% and 17.2%, respectively, during the quarter and finished the period down 20.0% and 23.4% year-to-date. This is the S&P’s worst first half since 1970. Market conditions are clearly very different from a year or two ago, when risk taking was rampant and asset values were propped up by rock-bottom interest rates and aggressive economic stimulus spawned by the pandemic. Now, we are on the back side of said stimulus and dealing with the challenging cocktail of rampant inflation, higher interest rates and slowing growth.