Past the Halfway Point

It's another hot and humid summer in D.C. If you're in the D.C. region I hope you have plans to get away to a cooler climate (or just somewhere fun).

Here's a four-point summary of what happened during the second quarter:

1. U.S. stocks continued to perform well, with health and biotech stocks leading the way.
2. Bond funds were also in positive during the second quarter.
3. Investors in foreign stocks were rewarded for their patience as international investments performed even better than domestic stocks.
4. In June, the Federal Reserve raised the target Federal funds rate by 0.25%.

Q2 2017 Numbers

The benchmark S&P 500 gained 2.6% during the second quarter, which puts it up 8.2% for the first half of the year.

The average diversified U.S. stock fund, which is a better measure of how we actually invest, gained 2.7%, just slightly higher than the market. This puts domestic stock funds up 7.7% through the first half of 2017. Investors, perhaps wary of high valuations in U.S. stocks, are exercising caution, with $23 billion flowing out of stock funds.

The average diversified international stock fund gained 6.5% in the first quarter. This gain puts international stock funds up 15% for the year. In a sign of investors' confidence in foreign markets, $78 billion flowed into international stock funds during the quarter.

The average intermediate-term bond fund returned 1.4% during the second quarter and 2.4% for the first half. $93 billion flowed into bond funds during the quarter, likely because investors are worried about the valuations of U.S. stocks.

Expectations for the Third Quarter

Legislation coming out of D.C. may affect markets during the third and fourth quarters of 2017. This includes, but is not limited to, health care overhaul, infrastructure spending, and tax reform. Or our elected officials will continue to behave like children and nothing will be accomplished. My money is on the latter option.

Listening / Reading / Watching

Here's what has my attention right now:

• Game of Thrones on HBO. Because winter is coming, of course.
• I need recommendations for fun summer books! Have any good mindless page-turners? Let me know.