On December 19 Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell announced that the Fed would increase its target federal-funds rate to a range between 2.25 – 2.50 percent and suggested that two more increases may be in store for 2019. The stock market, which had maintained some expectation that the Fed might be done raising rates, dropped

The U.S. stock market fell by 6.8 percent in October (all returns cited in this article refer to the S&P 500 and include reinvestment of dividends). As of late November the market remained volatile but had failed to make up any ground. Investors are understandably concerned. But this decline follows an unusually long period of