Defying precedent of September historically being the worst performing month of year, all three major U.S. equity average posted solid monthly gains. For the S&P 500 it was the first positive September since 2019. Moreover, the S&P 500 is up just over 22% for the year – its first time since 1997 that the benchmark has risen 20% or more through the first nine months of the year. That’s a rare event, this happening just 10 times since 1950. The main bullish catalyst is overarching optimism that the Federal Reserve can continue engineering a soft landing by signaling and initiating the start of a new interest rate easing cycle.