At the halfway mark of 2026, S&P generated a total return of around 10%, and as Goldman Sachs head of hedge fund coverage, Tony Pasquariello, notes, while that’s somewhat anticlimactic relative to the convexity of recent years - and it lags equal-weight S&P (+12%) and small cap (+23%) - the fact is +10% is very solid relative to the long arc of market history (and is stronger than the first half of last year).

Here’s another framing:

What else stuck out in the first half?