For more than a century, Wall Street has been a stomping ground for wealth creation. No other asset class has come particularly close to matching the annualized return of stocks spanning 100 years.
However, this doesn’t mean stocks move higher in a straight line. Volatility is the price investors pay for admission to the world’s greatest wealth creator — and 2025 has been chock-full of volatility.
During a one-week stretch in April, the ageless Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) and broad-based S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) dipped into correction territory, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) entered a bear market for the first time in three years. This was followed days later by all three indexes recording their largest single-day point gains since their respective inceptions.