June began with the market still trading every Iran headline like a live grenade. By month’s end, investors had something more comforting: not peace, exactly, but enough of a pause to stop pricing in catastrophe.

The U.S. and Iran moved toward an interim arrangement to halt hostilities and allow commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil, the market’s most visible anxiety gauge, retreated sharply. Stocks responded as they have throughout this conflict: not by demanding resolution, but by rewarding evidence that the worst outcomes are not taking hold.
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That was the good news.

January was a reminder that this market has become unusually good at separating signal from spectacle.
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The headlines were loud: tariff threats tied to Greenland, renewed questions around Federal Reserve independence, sharp one-day selloffs—and just as sharp reversals. Yet by month’s end, equities were still near record territory, leadership remained intact, and volatility failed to stick.

That contrast tells the story. Investors are no longer reacting reflexively to political noise. Instead, they are focused on whether headlines interfere with rates, earnings, or capital flows. When they don’t, selloffs tend to fade quickly.