The month of December proved to be a microcosm for the year in terms of foreign versus domestic stock performance. Stocks outside the United States struggled with the MSCI EAFE Index posting a loss of -3.4%. Meanwhile U.S. large-cap stocks finished a strong year by holding up much better than foreign stocks in December with a loss of just -0.3%.
Diversification plain and simply did not work for equity investors in 2014. Recognizable U.S. large-cap names that comprise the headline indices fared well, resulting in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 posting returns of 10.0% and 13.5%, respectively, in 2014. Despite a “risk-on” environment for much of the year, U.S. small-cap stocks produced returns last year that were less than half those of large-cap stocks, with the Russell 2000 Index up just 4.9%. Outside the U.S., both developed and emerging markets lost money…
Please watch the video below for our complete Market Analysis.
Click here to read our complete Market Analysis.