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Sector Weightings of the S&P 500
This chart shows how the weights of the various sectors of the S&P 500 have varied from year to year. The larger a sector's weight in the index, the greater its performance had impacted the performance of the index in that year.
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Bear Markets and Market Corrections, January 1950 to December 2024
This table represents the size and duration of all corrections, bear markets, and market rebounds that occurred in the U.S. stock market between January 1, 1950, and December 31, 2024. Generally speaking, a correction is a decline of 10% to 19.9% from peak to trough. A bear market is a decline of more than 19.9% from peak to trough, and a rebound is the gain from one trough to the next peak.
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The Effect of Missing Top Performance Periods for Stocks, Past 30 Years
This chart shows how returns might have been affected by missing the 12 top-performing months during 10-, 20-, and 30-year periods, assuming that investment performance mirrored the performance of the S&P 500 index. For example, for the 10-year period from April 2015 to March 2025, missing the top 12 months could have reduced an investor's return by 10 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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U.S. Market Performance Within the Industrialized World
This chart shows how the U.S. stock market fared annually between 1972 and 2024 in relation to other developed foreign markets. It shows the annual performance of the United States alongside the highest and lowest performing markets for the same year from the following group: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland (data beginning in 1988), Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. During this period, the U.S. has rarely been the strongest or weakest performing market of the group.
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Income and Price Returns, Past 10 Years
This chart shows the income and price appreciation of indexes representing various assets over the past 10 years. In many cases the income portion of a return was large enough to overcome price declines and create a positive total return.
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The Added Value of Dividend Reinvestment
This chart shows indexes representing the average return of stocks, with and without reinvested dividends, over various holding periods since 1926. Historically, total returns have been significantly higher, especially over longer periods, when including the value of reinvested dividends.
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Dividend-Paying Stocks vs. Non-Dividend-Paying Stocks
Compares the growth of an investment in the dividend-paying stocks of the S&P 500 with the non-dividend-paying stocks in the index.
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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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Range of Returns for Three Major Asset Classes
With higher return potential usually comes greater risk. Consider these performance statistics for indexes representing major asset classes. Stocks may have shown the greatest average returns but also the widest range of observed returns. Bonds have shown much less variation in returns but also a significantly lower average. Cash alternatives, also known as money market investments, were the only investments that showed no measurable occurrence of loss, but their average returns were minimal, even compared with bonds.
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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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Equity Performance During Expansionary and Restrictive Monetary Policy
This chart suggests that during periods of restrictive monetary policy, equities as measured by the S&P 500 index have tended to perform more poorly than during periods of expansionary monetary policy.
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Trading Days With Changes of 1% or More in Domestic Stock Prices
Stock market volatility may unnerve investors who watch it closely. This chart could help put daily volatility in perspective. It shows that while daily moves of 1% or more have been relatively common at some points, there have been significant variations from year to year. Investors should keep this in mind when evaluating daily changes in stock prices.
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Holding Period Returns Since 1946
This chart displays indexes representing the performance of stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation over various periods since 1946.
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Highest and Lowest Returns Over Various Holding Periods Since 1926
This chart shows the performance of indexes representing the range of returns for stocks and bonds during the indicated periods from March 31, 1926, through March 31, 2025.
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Highest and Lowest Returns Over Various Holding Periods Since 1946
This chart shows the performance of indexes representing the range of returns for stocks and bonds during the indicated periods from January 1, 1946, through March 31, 2025.
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Comparative Performance of Stocks and Bonds (Trailing 12-Month Periods)
This chart shows how indexes representing stock and bond performance have outperformed each other at different times during the past 30 years.
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Missing Top-Performing Months in the Stock Market
This table illustrates the potential pitfalls of market timing. The table shows the effects of missing the strongest performing months over long holding periods, assuming that investment performance mirrored the performance of the S&P 500 index.
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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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Growth of $1 Invested Since 1928
This chart shows the growth of a $1 investment in stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation.
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Growth of $1 Invested Since 1947
This chart shows the potential growth of $1 investments in stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation, assuming that the investments mirrored the performance of their indicated benchmarks.
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Inflation and S&P 500 Price-Earnings Ratio
This chart compares inflation and S&P 500 price-earnings ratio over the past 75 years.
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30-Year Conventional Mortgage Rate and Real Home Prices ($)
This chart compares the 30-year conventional mortgage rate and real home prices ($) annually over the past 30 years.
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Ratio of S&P 500 Market Cap to GDP and Inflation, Past 40 Years
This chart compares the ratio of S&P 500 market cap to GDP and inflation annually over the past 40 years.
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Housing Starts (in 000s) and Federal Funds Rate, Past 50 Years
This chart compares housing starts (in 000s) and federal funds rate annually over the past 50 years.
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S&P 500 Market Cap (% of GDP) and Federal Budget Gap (% of GDP), Past 20 Years
This chart shows the S&P 500 market cap (% of GDP) and federal budget gap (% of GDP) over the past 20 years.
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Savings Rate, Per Capita Personal Income, and Per Capita Personal Expenditures, Past 40 Years
This chart compares the savings rate with personal income and expenditures quarterly over the 40-year period ended December 31, 2024.
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Inflation and Unemployment, Past 50 Years
This chart shows inflation and unemployment over the past 50 years.
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Stock Returns, Broken Down by Positive and Negative Periods
This chart demonstrates that, historically (since 1926), holding stocks for longer periods has lowered an investor's chances of seeing negative returns, assuming the stock portfolio mirrored the performance of the S&P 500 index and the investor reinvested all distributions.
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Stocks and Bonds, Income vs. Price Appreciation
This chart compares income with price appreciation for stocks and bonds during the 30-year period ended December 31, 2024. Note that bond prices generally move in the opposite direction of bond yields.
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Range of Returns for Various Asset Classes, Past 30 Years
This chart shows the range of returns recorded by indexes representing the indicated asset classes during all possible 12-month holding periods from April 1, 1995, through March 31, 2025. While the indexes representing stocks and long-term bonds had peak returns much higher than those representing cash and intermediate-term bonds, they also experienced sharper lows.
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30-Year Mortgage Rates, Federal Funds Rates, and Spread of Mortgage Rates to Fed Funds, Past 30 Years
This chart compares the 30-year mortgage rates, federal funds rates, and spread of mortgage rates to fed funds monthly over the past 30 years.
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Stocks vs. T-Bills
This chart shows the percentages of time in which stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 index, had historically outperformed Treasury bills and the percentages of time in which Treasury bills had historically outperformed stocks over the potential 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 10-, and 20-year holding periods that occurred from January 1, 1926, through March 31, 2025.
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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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Stocks vs. Private Real Estate, Past 20 Years
Over the past 20 years, stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, have generally outperformed real estate, as represented by the total returns of the NCREIF Property Index, although real estate has outperformed in most years this decade.
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Calendar-Year Returns, Past 25 Years
This chart shows the performance of the index representing calendar-year performance of stocks and average calendar-year returns on stocks over the past 25 years.
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Calendar-Year Returns, Past 30 Years
This chart displays the indexes representing the performance of stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation over the past 30 years. The return shown for 2025 is through March 31.
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Returns by Decade Since 1926
This chart displays indexes representing the performance of stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation over each decade since 1926. The first and final decades may not cover exactly 10 years.
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Returns by Decade Since 1970
This chart displays indexes representing the performance of stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation over each decade since 1970. The final decade may not cover exactly 10 years.
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Holding Period Returns Since 1926
This chart displays indexes representing the performance of stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation over various periods since 1926.
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Holding Period Returns, Past 30 Years
This chart displays indexes representing the performance of stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation during various intervals over the past 30 years.
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Risk and Return by Decade
This chart shows how indexes representing stocks have produced different combinations of risk and reward in different decades. Note that the first period is from 1926 to 1939 and the most recent period is from 2000 to March 31, 2025.
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Risk and Return Since 1926
This chart illustrates the historical relationship between risk and return for indexes representing stocks, bonds, cash, 60/40 portfolio, and 40/40/20 portfolio from January 1, 1926, through March 31, 2025.
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Risk and Return, Past 30 Years
This chart demonstrates the historical relationship between risk and return of the indexes representing the indicated asset classes over the 30 years ended March 31, 2025.
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Risk and Return Over 10-Year Periods Since 1926
This chart demonstrates the historical relationship between risk and return for indexes representing various asset classes from January 1, 1926, through March 31, 2025, based on 10-year holding periods.
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Risk and Return Over 10-Year Periods Since 1970
This chart demonstrates the historical relationship between risk and return for indexes representing various asset classes from January 1, 1970, through March 31, 2025, based on 10-year holding periods.
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Average Risk and Return Over 30-Year Periods Since 1926
This chart demonstrates the historical relationship between average risk and average return for indexes representing various asset classes from January 1, 1926, through March 31, 2025, based on all rolling 30-year holding periods.
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Risk and Return Over 30-Year Periods Since 1970
This chart demonstrates the historical relationship between average risk and average return for indexes representing various asset classes from January 1, 1970, through March 31, 2025, based on all rolling 30-year holding periods.
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Growth of $1 Invested Since March 31, 2005
This chart shows the potential growth of $1 investments in stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation, assuming that the investments mirrored the performance of their indicated benchmarks.
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Highest and Lowest Returns Over Various Holding Periods, Past 30 Years
This chart shows the performance of indexes representing the range of returns for stocks and bonds during the indicated periods (1 year, 3 years, etc.) through March 31, 2025.
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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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Growth of $1 Invested Since March 31, 1995
This chart shows the potential growth of $1 investments in stocks, bonds, cash, and inflation, assuming that the investments mirrored the performance of their indicated benchmarks.
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Comparative Performance of Stocks and Bonds (Trailing 36-Month Periods)
This chart shows how indexes representing stock and bond performance have outperformed each other at different times during the past 30 years.
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Comparative Performance of Stocks and Bonds (Trailing 60-Month Periods)
This chart shows how indexes representing stock and bond performance have outperformed each other at different times during the past 30 years.
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Performance of All-Stock, All-Bond, and Blended Stock/Bond Portfolios Since 1926
Looking back over investment market history since 1926, just about any investment portfolio has shown positive returns over some 12-month periods and negative returns over others. But for each portfolio, some returns were more likely to have occurred than others. This table shows the distribution of returns that occurred for all-stock, all-bond, and blended stock/bond portfolios, assuming that stock and bond performance mirrored the performance of the indicated benchmarks for each.
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Risk and Return of Single-Asset and Mixed Portfolios Since 1926
This chart compares the risk and return potential associated with investing in stocks or bonds versus investing in portfolios that combine the two asset classes, for the period from January 1, 1926, through March 31, 2025. Based on the performance of the indexes that represent those asset classes, a portfolio that blended both might have had a stronger risk-adjusted return than a portfolio that was composed entirely of one or the other.
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Risk and Return of Single-Asset and Mixed Portfolios, Past 10 Years
This chart compares the risk and return potential associated with investing in a single asset class versus investing in portfolios that combine two asset classes, for the period from April 1, 2015, through March 31, 2025. Based on the performance of the indexes that represent those asset classes, a portfolio that blended both might have had a stronger risk-adjusted return than a portfolio that was composed entirely of one or the other.
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Risk and Return of Single-Asset and Mixed Portfolios, Past 30 Years
This chart compares the risk and return potential associated with investing in stocks or bonds versus investing in portfolios that combine the two asset classes, for the period from April 1, 1995, through March 31, 2025. Based on the performance of the indexes that represent those asset classes, a portfolio that blended both might have had a stronger risk-adjusted return than a portfolio that was composed entirely of one or the other.
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Risk and Return of Single-Asset and Mixed Portfolios, Past 50 Years
This chart compares the risk and return potential associated with investing in stocks or bonds versus investing in portfolios that combine the two asset classes, for the period from April 1, 1975, through March 31, 2025. Based on the performance of the indexes that represent those asset classes, a portfolio that blended both might have had a stronger risk-adjusted return than a portfolio that was composed entirely of one or the other.
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