About this time last year, I was sending out data showing what an anomalous year 2018 had been:
Everything was down. There was nowhere to hide.
Well, here we are 12 months later, and I am sending out data showing what an anomalous year 2019 has been:
Whereas everything last year was down, everything this year was up. Weird how that works.
Now, to be sure, 4th Quarter 2018 was especially brutal, which gave 2019’s performance numbers a very strong tailwind at the start of the year:
So although US stocks clocked in at a blistering 30.65% in 2019, when combined with 2018, the S&P 500 has averaged 9.8% over the last two ‘anomalous’ years – about in line with the 10.2% average annual return it’s been doing since 1926. Which simply reinforces our long-held belief: in the short-run, markets are incredibly unpredictable. In the long-run, they’ve been incredibly reliable.
Anyhow, here’s our Quarterly Market Review for period ending 12/31/2019:Download 2019 Q4 Quarterly Market Review Here