Investing Fads and Themes by Year, 1996-2011

Another year in the books and I’ve updated my Investing Fads and Themes by Year guide accordingly.  It begins with 1996 because that was my first summer working on The Street and my earliest exposure to the market.

So what was 2011 about?

Well, it was basically about Risk-On Risk-Off.  Stocks were the most correlated they’d been in 80 years and by the fall it was shown that 84% of S&P 500 stocks were moving in the same direction as the S&P 500 each day.

This meant that investors could skip out on doing intense stock-specific research and just focus on getting the market right.  In order to get the market right, one needed to pay closer attention to the euro versus the dollar more than anything else.  When the euro was in favor, so were stocks and risk assets, when the dollar was in favor, stocks and commodities were schmeissed almost universally.

This seesaw arrangement meant paying attention to the headlines coming out of Europe – and none were more important than those mentioning Angela Merkel.  As the chancellor of the Euro’s strongest economy (and shotcaller), Merkel has held the key to whether or not Europe’s monetary union and common currenc y would survive.  We still don’t know as of this posting.

Dividend stocks were all the rage this year as interest rates remained low and bond yields remained paltry.  This was easy to foresee and many of us positioned in the highest-yielding and most consistently paying sectors.  The big winners this year were those who overweighted Healthcare, Telecommunications, Consumer Staples and Utilities.

Social media IPOs were also a major trend this year – on the bull side and the bear side.  I correctly predicted this at the end of 2010 and I was not disappointed with the hype and headlines of these deals.  LinkedIn, Groupon, Pandora and Zynga were the most talked about deals of 2011.  Spectacular opening valuations gave way to gravity for many of them but the incessant interest in them has not yet abated.  Besides, Facebook and Twitter are still waiting in the wings.

Anyway, here is my updated guide to the Investing Fads and Themes by Year, 1996 – 2010.  Enjoy!

Follow Me on Twitter

Tags: $LNKD $GRPN $ZNGA $P

 

Tags: , , ,

This content, which contains security-related opinions and/or information, is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon in any manner as professional advice, or an endorsement of any practices, products or services. There can be no guarantees or assurances that the views expressed here will be applicable for any particular facts or circumstances, and should not be relied upon in any manner. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment.

The commentary in this “post” (including any related blog, podcasts, videos, and social media) reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Ritholtz Wealth Management employees providing such comments, and should not be regarded the views of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. or its respective affiliates or as a description of advisory services provided by Ritholtz Wealth Management or performance returns of any Ritholtz Wealth Management Investments client.

References to any securities or digital assets, or performance data, are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.

Wealthcast Media, an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here: https://www.ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers

Please see disclosures here.

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web
  1. sex and mischief commented on Jul 06

    sex and mischief

    […]just beneath, are many entirely not connected internet sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]

  2. Lesbians Double Headed Dong commented on Jul 06

    Lesbians Double Headed Dong

    […]usually posts some extremely interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]

  3. apps for pc free download commented on Jul 07

    apps for pc free download

    […]The information and facts mentioned inside the article are some of the most effective obtainable […]

  4. free app download commented on Jul 08

    free app download

    […]very couple of internet sites that transpire to be in depth beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[…]

  5. خرید اکانت vpn commented on Jul 08

    vpn ایفون

    here are some hyperlinks to internet pages that we website link to for the purpose that we imagine they may be really worth browsing

  6. pc games for windows xp commented on Jul 08

    pc games for windows xp

    […]we came across a cool website which you could possibly get pleasure from. Take a appear in case you want[…]

  7. buy hoverboard commented on Jul 08

    buy hoverboard

    […]just beneath, are several absolutely not connected web pages to ours, even so, they may be certainly really worth going over[…]

  8. types of lining commented on Jul 08

    types of lining

    […]one of our guests not long ago recommended the following website[…]

  9. Vanessa Lunnon Harassment commented on Jul 09

    Vanessa Lunnon Harassment

    […]that is the finish of this post. Here you’ll locate some web-sites that we believe you will enjoy, just click the hyperlinks over[…]

  10. seo service commented on Jul 09

    seo service

    […]Here are several of the web pages we advocate for our visitors[…]

  11. حبوب الاجهاض في الامارات commented on Jul 09

    حبوب الاجهاض في الامارات

    […]just beneath, are several entirely not connected web sites to ours, even so, they are certainly really worth going over[…]