The Bond Market Offered No Safe Harbor Last Week. Why a Diversified ETF Strategy Still Beats Trying to Time the Market.

2026-03-09 18:21:44 ET

Last week, the conflict in Iran helped spike equity market volatility and send U.S. stock prices lower. Sentiment had already been weakening in the lead-up, but the strikes themselves sent the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq-100 indexes sharply lower. They've recovered somewhat since then, but investors are still working to try to figure out the ultimate impact of this to the markets and the economy.

In situations like this, investors often turn to bonds for a measure of safety and stability. In most cases, bonds are expected to offset stock market risk and cushion downside. But look at what has happened over the past several trading days.

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