What should I be putting my money in right now with the current markets?

I recently came into some money. Not too much, a few thousand. I'll be sitting on it for a few months to a year, was wondering what I should be putting it in to combat inflation while also having it grow since it won't be doing anything except collecting dust for the next few months. About a month or two ago, I knew I was going to be getting this money and thought about chucking it into spy once I got it. Something stable that trends upwards. But the current market seems to all be down, so now I'm just sitting on this money and it's doing nothing for me.

I've thought about bonds but am a bit confused on them and not sure if they'd do much with a short of a term as a few months to a year. Thought about gold as well