Friends, What a year and like you I’m happy to see 2020 go in hopes of a more normal environment in 2021. Who would have thought last January that we would have an election, a global pandemic, and chaos/rioting in the streets during 2020, yet have a market that provided exceptional returns.
In fact, this was a year where bonds and stocks were both up! Growth stocks continued their outperformance of Dividend/Value but that gap narrowed in the 4th quarter. In fact, the Dow was only up 7% for the
year.30,000 was quite a milestone and something we talked about years ago as a possibility. In fact, the S&P 500 recorded nearly 30 new highs in 2020!!
Remember in April though, when many thought this market would continue to dive( 1929 comments were being made/this time is different) and losses would deepen as the virus expanded. We were here re-positioning our portfolios, taking tax losses where it made sense, and just reminding many of you how strong our mix of investments were for the long term (in other words, hold on tight). We hosted 2 WebEx's and sent out weekly emails encouraging all our clients to stick to OUR plan and invest more if possible on the dip.
It’s amazing when it all works out so quickly and one of the most rewarding parts of our business for me personally. I’ve now been through 3 major market corrections and recessions through my career and hope this is the last for a while.
2021, we expect corporate profits to recover, political noise to calm a bit, and interest rates to remain low in 2021: all these are tailwinds to a solid year for the economy, stock markets, and real estate. We will see about inflation…I’ll be hosting a call on Janney’s 2021 outlook soon.
See the link for more info on 2020: Year Review
I wish you all continued health and optimism about the vaccine into 2021. We look forward to helping you reach your goals in 2021 and getting more life out of your money!
