Stocks overcame numerous headwinds during the past three months, including a resurgence in COVID cases, the Federal Reserve moving aggressively to end the current QE program, and a lack of additional stimulus from Washington, to hit new all-time highs in the fourth quarter and produce very strong returns for 2021.

The fourth quarter started with a continuation of the volatility that we saw at the end of the third quarter, as in early October there was still little progress in Washington on extending the debt ceiling, avoiding a government shutdown, or providing investors clarity on future tax changes contained in the Build Back Better bill. That political uncertainty combined with concerns over third-quarter corporate earnings results following a series of negative earnings pre-announcements to send stocks lower to start the fourth quarter. But by the middle of October, Republicans and Democrats had extended the debt ceiling and avoided a government shutdown, while many of the tax increases proposed in the Build Back Better bill were removed from the bill, which eased investor anxiety about future tax...