Bonds Outperform Stocks in Best Start to a Year Since 2008

Bonds beat stocks last month for the first time since August as fixed-income securities worldwide enjoyed their best start to a year since 2008.

The start of the year in financial markets went as almost no one expected, with fixed-income assets worldwide posting their biggest January returns since 2008 and equity prices falling the most since 2010. Gold, given up for dead in 2013 as prices tumbled 28 percent, rallied.