On Tuesday, the last trading day of March, the stock market went up because people hoped that the war with Iran would stop. But buyers had a hard month.
The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq all dropped about 5% in March, ending a quarter of losses.
The markets will be “extremely sensitive to headlines, both positive and negative,” said Jack Manley, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. Investors may want to get ready for bigger changes.
According to Manley, “now is still a good time to take risks,” but people should be aware that this year will be rough.
People who are worried about the market may want to take a break, but JPMorgan Asset Management data shows that people who buy and sell stocks often are the ones who will lose the most.
The company looked at S&P 500 data and found that six of the market’s ten best days happened just two weeks after its ten worst days. The second-worst day of 2020, March 12, was right after the second-best day of the year.
JPMorgan Asset Management found that investors who stay fully involved are most likely to make money. The firm’s data shows that buyers lose money when they move in and out of the markets a lot. This is because they miss more “best days.”
It also helps to stay diverse, Manley said, so you can handle the price changes better.
U.S. stocks are a “great place to make money.”
Set-it-and-forget-it S&P 500 index investing in large-cap U.S. stocks has been a winner, with gains of over 10% each year for three years in a row: about 16% in 2025, 23% in 2024, and 24% in 2023.
The S&P 500 is down about 3.5% so far this year, so it won’t be able to match those gains in 2026.
He said, “As a U.S. stock investor, you could have a bad year at any time.” “But history makes it very clear that U.S. stocks are a great way to make money over the long term.”
Even though news about the war in Iran moves the markets, other events, such as the U.S.’s involvement in Venezuela, rumors of buying Greenland, and the collapse of the Japanese bond market, were already making people less sure of what would happen.
Manley said that the best way to get ready for possible market volatility is to stay diversified by investing in foreign, fixed-income, and other types of investments that aren’t tied to market returns, such as real estate or other real assets.
Brian Schmehil, a certified financial planner and managing director of wealth management at The Mather Group in Chicago, said that clients can stay on track when things happen that make them feel bad or cause stress.
Schmehil said that should include having enough cash on hand to meet short-term goals and a “good game plan” for long-term investments.
According to Schmehil, investors have a better chance of sticking with their plans even if their feelings or portfolio balance get out of hand if they rebalance their portfolios often and know how much risk they are willing to take.
Manley said, “This market wasn’t on fire before the conflict.”
And Schmehil said it can be helpful to talk things over with a trustworthy financial expert.
Schmehil said, “Everyone thinks the wealth advisor should pick the best stocks or give you the best tax plan.” “That’s true, but a lot of that stuff will be taken for granted now that we have AI.”
He said, “What’s going to matter is having someone who can understand how you feel.”
