Even Nostradamus Can't Make a Decent Investment Return This Year

Photographer: Bess Adler/Bloomberg
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That even the French seer’s investments would struggle to beat U.S. inflation this year is a bad omen for future returns, market observers say.

Not one of the 17 major asset classes tracked by Morgan Stanley has beaten U.S. consumer-price index in 2018, a record going back to at least 2004, the bank’s strategy team including Matthew Garman wrote in a note Friday. For the Leuthold Group, its hypothetical single-asset portfolio with “perfect year-ahead foresight” is set for the worst performance ever.