The S&P 500 started 2022 with a bang, reaching a new all-time high of 4,818.62 on Jan. 4. That date would mark the top for the index, as the Santa Claus rally that had shifted into gear during late December 2021 came to an abrupt end.
After the rally ended, investors were forced to take more seriously the increasingly hawkish tone to which the Federal Reserve shifted during the fourth quarter of that year as the overheated economy ran rampant and inflation soared.
