The first half of 2024 ended with the S&P 500 making 31 record highs during the period. Thus, with its 5,460 points and a return of 14.5%, the main benchmark of the U.S. markets surpassed all estimates by Wall Street analysts. The technology and communication sectors stood out, while the real estate sector was the only one of the 11 to show a negative performance during the period. Also, MEGA CAP, or large-cap stocks, continued to get even bigger. During June, NVIDIA briefly passed MICROSOFT to become the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $3.3 trillion. Similarly TESLA, which had suffered a 43% plunge during the first four months of the year, rebounded strongly (+77%) in June and the first days of July to return to positive territory (+1%) in this 2024. With this, the performance of these companies and their weight in the main indexes have been a key factor in the performance of the markets. And while MEGA CAP stocks stood out during this first half of the year, the high tide has not lifted all boats equally, with the SmallCap and Value sectors lagging behind, as well as regional bank and real estate stocks as mentioned above.

Moving to the debt markets, the story has not been as favorable as that of equities, with the major aggregate bond and corporate bond indices returning -0.71% and -0.49%, respectively during the half year. With this, term positions have underperformed cash equivalents due to rising interest rates. That said, the odds for a first rate cut in September by the Fed have increased to 78% and, if it materializes, long positions may regain some ground.

With respect to the local market, the Mexican peso suffered a depreciation of around 7.5% during the month of June following the election results. Likewise, the stock market fell 4.96% during the month to accumulate a negative performance of -8.62% so far this year. And while most of the new cabinet appointments seem to be more successful, some of them certainly show a shadow of the previous administration.

Finally, in the United Kingdom the Labour party won by an overwhelming majority after 14 years of Conservative government, while in the French elections the left-wing New Popular Front surprised by taking the largest number of seats, leaving Macron's bloc in second place and the extreme right of Marine Le Pen in third. Now the focus will shift to the race for the White House, which after an unfortunate first debate for incumbent President Biden, leaves Republican candidate Trump in a better position for the November elections.