It was an incredibly volatile month thanks to the tariff announcements on Liberation Day. But if you fell into a deep sleep like Rip Van Winkle for the month of April, you would have woken up to see the S&P down only -0.8% and U.S. Treasuries up +0.6% on the month. Here are 3 things you need to know:

1. On April 3rd and 4th, the S&P 500 Index experienced its fifth largest two-day percentage drawdown since 1960 (-10.8%). Then on April 9th, the S&P 500 had its third largest daily increase since the Great Depression in 1933 (+9.5%) —eclipsed only by two sessions in October 2008 during the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). Despite the violence of the daily shifts, the monthly changes in major indexes were muted, with the S&P 500 falling less in April than it did in March. 
2. Gold prices continued to surge (+5.3%) and have now posted their strongest start to a year since 2006, up +25.3% YTD. The monthly surge in gold prices closely mirrored the dollar index slump for the month of April (-4.6%).
3. Brent Crude oil prices were down -15.5% to $63.12/bbl, their biggest monthly fall since November 2021.

Sources: J.P. Morgan Asset Management – Economic Update; Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov); Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov); Federal Open Market Committee (www.federalreserve.gov); Bloomberg; Deutsche Bank; FactSet.

Indices:

• The Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based index used as a proxy for the U.S. bond market. Total return quoted.
• The S&P 500 is designed to be a leading indicator of U.S. equities and is commonly used as a proxy for the U.S. stock market. Price return quoted.
• The Russell 2000 Index is a small-cap U.S. stock market index that makes up the smallest 2,000 stocks in the Russell Index.
• The MSCI ACWI ex-US Index captures large and mid-cap representation across 22 of 23 developed market countries (excluding the U.S.) and 27 emerging market countries.  The index covers approximately 85% of the global equity opportunity set outside the U.S. Price return quoted.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index captures large and mid-cap segments in 26 emerging markets. Price return quoted (USD).

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