Global markets are not in the mood to fight inflation, and the market reaction to the Fed press conference on May 4 only highlights the growing fear of the world of waning global monetary stimulus.

Just when it felt like we were exiting one global economic problem, we're confronted with another. Within just a few days, the Russia—Ukraine war has already decimated Russian stocks and now seems to be spreading into other markets, notably Germany, the most strongly linked economically to Russia, likely foreshadowing economic problems to come.

If ever there was a year for American exceptionalism, it was 2021. Our vaccines, if not our deployment, were at the top of the global heap (with some help from Germany). Our stock market as measured by the S&P 500 delivered a remarkable 28%+ return for the year, while the main foreign developed markets index was up around 8%.

The brief weakness in stocks in September didn't last. Any fears of inflation, stagflation, global supply shortages, and the like melted away as the S&P 500, with dividends, returned 7%, leading to a 5.13% three-month return and a whopping 24% year-to-date