One of the most common questions I hear is, “What’s wrong with small caps?” This concern usually stems from relative returns over the past 10 years, during which US small caps underperformed the S&P 500 Index by a little over 4 percentage points. But which one of these asset classes has been behaving abnormally?
Some investors may view gold as a risk-management asset. While returns for gold have been too volatile for it to serve as an effective safe haven or inflation hedge, some may see it as an asset to weather an economic downturn. But there’s not much evidence gold can fulfill this purpose.
Many people start out managing their own investments. But as their earnings and assets grow, their financial needs and challenges become more complex—and continuing to go it alone could prove costly in terms of investing miscues. Consider three common mistakes that can reduce returns and increase anxiety.
This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the past quarter. It features a global overview and the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the impact of globally diversified portfolios.
For many investors, it’s hard not to follow the daily fluctuations of the stock market. But day-to-day volatility is a reminder that stocks are best considered a long-term investment.
Part of the reason stocks have higher expected returns than bonds is uncertainty over shorter horizons. For example, the S&P 500 Index return was negative in about 24% of overlapping one-year periods from January 1926 through March 2025. The worst outcome over these one-year periods was about –68%, dropping $1 in invested capital to just $0.32.
Things have looked better over longer horizons, with the caveat that the number of independent observations among rolling return windows dwindles as the horizon lengthens—just five for the 20-year returns. But the frequency of negative returns decreases as the investment period expands, and no stretch over 184 months has been negative.
The US government shut down after Congress was unable to reach a funding agreement. This is the 11th shutdown since 1981. During these shutdowns, many nonessential functions of the government cease. In most cases, the fiscal shortfall was resolved within a few days. However, four shutdowns lasted at least five days.
How did stocks fare during these prolonged episodes?
