Equities

Decades of Data: United Kingdom 1900–2020

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The 2020 UK edition of our annual report on the history of financial markets provides context for the range of returns investors can expect from equities, bonds, and cash; reveals the importance of various components of equity returns; examines the evidence for equity mean reversion; and reviews the relationship between initial valuations and subsequent returns for equities and bonds. It also analyzes the historic economic declines and sharp asset price movements that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

US Mid- to Large-Cap Equity Manager Performance: 2020

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For the seventh straight year, the majority of active mid- to large-cap managers underperformed in 2020, with 63.9% lagging the benchmark (gross of fees). This chart book is our annual summary of the absolute and relative performance of managers that report to our database.

Decades of Data: United States 1900–2020

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The 2020 US edition of our annual report on the history of financial markets provides context for the range of returns investors can expect from equities, bonds, and cash; reveals the importance of various components of equity returns; examines the evidence for equity mean reversion; and reviews the relationship between initial valuations and subsequent returns for equities and bonds. It also analyzes the historic economic declines and sharp asset price movements that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Market Matters: February 2021

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Risk assets rallied in February as global vaccination efforts progressed and economic momentum strengthened. However, the rally stalled in the latter half of the month amid concerns about a resurgence in inflation. Value stocks trounced growth. Small caps outperformed large caps for the sixth consecutive month. Sovereign bond prices declined amid sharply rising yields, while high-yield bonds advanced and bested investment-grade equivalents. Real assets mostly gained; oil prices reached their highest levels in more than a year, but gold declined at its fastest monthly rate since 2016. Among major currencies, UK sterling advanced, whereas the US dollar and euro were mixed.

Brexit Update

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The historic milestone reached when the white smoke emerged from Brussels and London on 24 December 2020 represents the end of the beginning in the establishment of the new relationship between the UK and EU, rather than an end in itself. Nonetheless, with the lingering threat of a tumultuous no-deal exit now removed, the headwind that this represented to the performance of UK assets has now subsided.

Review of Market Performance: Calendar Year 2020

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The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused steep declines in risk markets in first quarter 2020. Safe-haven assets, such as core sovereign bonds and gold, performed strongly during this period and have held on to much of their gains. Large-scale intervention by both monetary and fiscal authorities eventually put a floor under risk markets, driving rapid recoveries and pushing equity markets to new highs.