December is always a good time to look back on the year, look at what has transpired, and look forward to what might be in store for us next year. If you read the paper or listen to the news, we do not have to tell you what has happened in the markets these last couple of months.
As we certainly all have noticed, today is the second day of significant volatility and losses in the stock markets around the world. Yesterday U.S. markets suffered significant losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3.1%, the S&P 500 down 3.3%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ down 4.1%. At today’s closing prices, the Dow and S&P 500 closed down an additional 2.1%, and the Nasdaq was off 1.3%. The Nasdaq is now in correction territory, generally defined as a decline of 10% or more from its last high, although it is still approximately 425 points higher than its close at the end of 2017.
The long running economic expansion – now the second longest on record – and the accompanying exceptional returns in the stock market have been very beneficial to all of us. As the economic expansion and accompanying bull market enters its tenth year, this happy anniversary is a good time to reflect on the merits of rebalancing diversified portfolios.
Yesterday’s market drop was certainly disconcerting for most of us, but it is unfortunate that we did not see a more enlightening end-of day headline along the lines of "Dow drop is 99th largest on record." Monday’s drop of 1,175 points on the Dow was the largest absolute point drop in history, with the index falling from a near all-time high of 25,521 to 24,346 at the end of the day, a percentage drop of 4.6%.
If you have followed the financial press over the last year or two, you probably have noticed the continuing trend among individual investors of transitioning investment funds from actively managed to passively managed (index) funds. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal noted that over $300 billion moved from active to passive funds...
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