Despite a gain of +2.4% on Friday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index declined for a sixth consecutive week – reportedly the longest losing streak since 2011.

With stocks flirting with bear market territory – a loss of -20% from the last peak on January 3, 2022 – no one can say for certain when the financial and economic outlook will improve. Predicting the future is impossible. However, we do know how difficult times like these have worked out in the not-so-distant past.