Markets & Investing
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The CPC Team
April 8, 2026
March 2026 Economic & Market Highlights
- U.S. stocks moved lower during the month, with major market segments broadly falling about 5%. The main drivers were rising oil prices and increasing geopolitical tensions tied to the conflict involving Iran and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz. Those developments renewed concerns about higher inflation and slower economic growth, which weighed on stock prices.
- Bond markets also declined during the month as inflation concerns pushed yields higher and bond prices lower. Taxable bonds fell 1.8%, while municipal bonds declined 2.3%.
- International stocks were the weakest area of the market. International Developed Stocks fell 10.3%, and Emerging Market Stocks declined 13.1%. Higher energy costs and rising inflation concerns added to worries about global growth and weighed especially heavily on markets outside the U.S., particularly emerging markets.
The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), commonly known as "The Dow" is an index representing 30 stock of companies maintained and reviewed by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index, which represent approximately 8% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000 Index. The MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, and Far East) is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the United States & Canada. The EAFE consists of the country indices of 22 developed nations. The MSCI Emerging Markets is designed to measure equity market performance in 25 emerging market indices. The index's three largest industries are materials, energy, and banks. Bloomberg US Aggregate (BBAG): The index is a measure of the investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable bond market of roughly 6,000 SEC-registered securities with intermediate maturities averaging approximately 10 years. The index includes bonds from the Treasury, Government-Related, Corporate, MBS, ABS, and CMBS sectors. Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index: The index is a measure of the long-term tax-exempt bond market with securities of investment grade (rated at least Baa by Moody's Investors Service and BBB by Standard and Poor's). This index has four main sectors: state and local general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, insured bonds, and pre-refunded bonds.
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