Perspectives Newsletter: Q4, 2011
What a year! Stocks gyrated daily/weekly/monthly between the risk-on and the risk-off trade. S&P stock prices spanned a 20% trading range from the high of 1363 reached on April 29 to the low of 1099 touched on October 3, ending 2011 virtually flat with the beginning of the year excluding dividends. High-frequency traders betting on momentum factors crowded out traditional fundamental investors. US markets handily outperformed the rest of the world, especially Europe and the emerging countries.
