Staying invested during stock market downturns may provide better long-term returns than attempting to time market entry and exits.

Despite poor stock market returns for investors this year and continuous recession forecasts, most wealth management teams have consistently advised their clients to stay invested in stocks and weather the storm. Based on historical evidence, they believe that staying involved during stock market downturns can result in higher long-term returns than attempting to time market entry and exits.

This year's stock market has had one of the worst starts in history, The Nasdaq Composite is still in a bear market, down 28.5 percent year to date, and the S&P 500 down more than 20% year to date. Many investors have been left wondering when they would be able to buy the dip. As the second quarter comes to a close on Thursday, investors are still looking for the bottom of a ferocious market sell-off. Concerns about a weakening economy and rapid rate of inflation absorbed much of the first half of 2022, and recession concerns are mounting.

On Wednesday, US equities traded volatile intraday as investors remained concerned about rising indicators of a slowdown in US economic growth. Wednesday's changes followed sharp losses for the main averages the day before. On Tuesday, the Dow fell more than 1.5 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 2% and 3%, respectively. The benchmarks all began the morning with robust gains, but poor consumer confidence data halted those gains and sent markets plunging.

The S&P 500 fell in volatile trade, extending losses from the previous day's 2% drop.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained on Wednesday, after the previous session's unsuccessful attempt at a recovery.

The Dow Jones 30-stock index rose around 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq Composite, which is heavily weighted toward technology, was down around 0.1 percent.

The Dow and S&P 500's biggest gainers were technology firms. Amazon gained 2.2 percent after JPMorgan confirmed its overweight recommendation and Redburn began it at a buy. Meta Platforms, Apple, and Microsoft were all up approximately 2%.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester stated that if economic circumstances remain unchanged by July, she will push for a 75 basis point increase in interest rates at the central bank's July meeting. "I haven't seen the type of figures on the inflation side that I need to see to think we can go back to a 50 percent rise," she told CNBC.

Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, feels equities have more room to fall since many corporations have yet to revise their profit predictions following the Federal Reserve's decision to accelerate interest rate rises earlier this month. The Fed essentially raises the cost of borrowing across the economy, by raising the interest rates, which should lead to a decline in earnings.

She also advised investors to use maximum asset class diversity, a classic defensive investing technique, to protect investment portfolios. She advised investors to focus on investment grade bonds and cyclical industries such as small and midcap stocks in biotech, financials, energy, and industrials to outperform the S&P 500 through the end of the year.