Barclays Equity Gilt Study 2009: Past 10 years “lost decade” for shares; US annualised return since 1998 fourth-worst 10-year return of past 83 years
Mar 24th, 2009 | By Finfacts Ireland Business & Finance Portal | Category: News worldwide
The Barclays Equity Gilt Study 2009, which examines the long-term returns on a variety of assets, calls the past 10 years a "lost decade" for shares, where "equities have been the worst performing asset class since 1997, sharply underperforming all other asset classes." The report says "in nominal terms, the -0.3% annualised return from US equities since 1998 is the fourth-worst 10-year return of the past 83 years. Only those 10-year periods ending in 1937, 1938 and 1939 have delivered lower returns. Similarly, over the past 109 years, only the decade ending in 1974 saw a weaker 10-year nominal return from UK equities. For the sake of record, the 1964-74 UK equity return was 1.02%, while the 1998-2008 return was 1.05%."