The chart of the week looks at past performances of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index since 1976. This index is a common bond index and could be considered the bond equivalent of the S&P 500 index. Each line represents a calendar year return with the bold blue line being the index year-to-date through the end of the third quarter. The low interest rate environment coming into 2022 combined with historically aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed has created a return of -14.61% (rates go up, bond prices go down). The next closest yearly return was -2.92% in 1994.