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Risk and Return Since 1990
This chart demonstrates the historical relationship between risk and return for indicated business sectors as represented by the S&P 500 index sectors from January 1, 1990, through March 31, 2025.
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Why Market Cap Matters
Historically, stock benchmarks representing small-cap, midcap, and large-cap companies have taken turns leading the market. This chart ranks them in order of performance from first place to third in each of the past 10 years.
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S&P 500 Sector Ranks -- 2010 to 2024
This table illustrates that no one sector of the S&P 500 has consistently dominated the index in terms of its performance. Some sectors, like Information Technology, have tended to have more extreme swings, performing near the top of the index or near the bottom of the index in many years. Others, like Consumer Discretionary, have tended to finish many years in the middle of the pack.
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Assets Take Turns as Top Performers
According to the performance of the relevant market indexes, no asset class consistently outperformed the others over the 10-year period ended December 31, 2024. Any given index could be the strongest performer in one year and the poorest in another.
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The Effects of Missing Top Performance Periods for Stocks (20 Years)
This chart shows how returns could have been affected by missing the top-performing months over the past 20 years assuming that investment returns mirrored the performance of the S&P 500 index. For example, missing the top 10 months might have reduced an investor's return by 5 percentage points annually. Investors who remained invested for the entire period might have achieved higher returns for each holding period than those who tried to time the market and missed.
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The Effects of Missing Top Performance Days for Stocks, Past 20 Years
This chart shows how returns might have been affected by missing the top-performing days in the stock market during the past 20 years, assuming that investment returns mirrored the performance of the S&P 500 index. For example, missing just the top 10 days could have cost an investor more than $19,000 over the 20-year period, based on a $10,000 initial investment. Investors who remained invested for the entire period could have achieved higher returns for each holding period than those who tried to time the market and missed.
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Bonds Might Have Helped
Portfolios that were composed of a mix of stocks and bonds might have fared better than all-stock portfolios during the 2007 to 2009 bear market.
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Average 12-Month Returns for Six Asset Classes
This chart compares the average 12-month performance of indexes representing six common asset classes during the past 30 years.
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Calendar-Year Returns, Past 10 Years
This chart displays the performance of large-cap stocks, midcap stocks, small-cap stocks, and bonds over the past 10 calendar years.
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Risk and Return, Past 10 Years
This chart illustrates the historical relationship between risk and return for indexes representing the indicated asset types over the 10-year period ended March 31, 2025.
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