• As of last week the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index had fallen 11% from its high in January. That is the largest decline from a high point on record and it surpasses the 10.8% drop that occurred in 2008 during the financial crises. This creates a difficult situation for investors that have historically looked at bonds as a safe asset class within their portfolio.
• One common narrative is that when interest rates rise, stocks do worse. Data that goes back to the 1970s, however, shows that the Fed has raised rates a quarter point or less 55 times and raised rates a quarter to half point 15 times, with an average S&P500 return one year later of 7.41% and 8.34%, respectively. 
• Many investors have flocked to dividend paying stocks to replace bonds, which have unperformed and provided low-yields over the last few years. Yet, high-dividend paying stocks can provide little protection in a market downturn. Take the 2007-2009 financial crisis when Vanguard’s High Dividend Yield ETF fell -51.7%, which was worse than the S&P500.
• From 2010 to 2021 the cost of solar-generated energy dropped from $381 to $45 per megawatt-hour while wind-generated energy dropped from $89 to $48 per megawatt-hour. This is one reason why wind and solar accounted for 10.4% of all global power compared to just 5.2% in 2010. This growth is starting to slow, currently, as inflation and supply chain bottlenecks persist.