U.S. markets are closed today to mark the death of President Ford, but the lack of trading doesn’t dim the optimism that infuses a review of 2006 performance among the major asset classes. As our table below reminds, last year was a very good year.
Very good here is defined by positive performance across the board. As we’ve written previously, it’s rare that all the major asset classes deliver gains within a given calendar year. Or, at least, it used to be rare. Bull markets have become standard operating procedure since 2003, although no one should confuse a trend with a reordering of the laws of money and finance.