The start of July started off normal enough, with the broader markets plodding along. But after back-to-back session gains, the equities market suddenly had momentum going. With economic data showing improvements but not enough to stoke concerns of a Fed tapering, markets continued to climb.
Bernanke revealed that the highly accommodative policy will stay intact for the foreseeable future, particularly pointing out the relatively high U.S. unemployment rate, which fueled the rally in equities in mid-July.
Additionally, the broad markets continued to strengthen on favorable earnings results for the second quarter.
After setting new record highs, the broad indices drifted into sideways trading ahead of the Fed meeting on the last day of the month.
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Max Chen contributed to this article.