This is a fun time of year. We have the holidays right around the corner. (I’m already on my fourth viewing of Christmas Vacation.) Football games are ratcheting up in intensity. And a new round of equity analysts’ forecasts for the stock market’s future arrives. If previous forecasts are any indicator, you might want to use these for entertainment only.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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