Investment Insights Quarterly Strategy Letter 2017 Q1

The optimism and market strength seen in 2016 continued into the first quarter of this year with equity markets showing notable advances. International stocks showed their promise in the first three months of the year as emerging markets rallied 11.45 percent and developed international markets gained 7.39 percent. U.S. stocks were still in the race as the S&P 500 Index gained 6.07 percent during the first quarter of 2017. Stock markets have experienced an amazingly resilient rally and have ignored many events in the global economy as well as geopolitics, though the road ahead may be a bit bumpier.