Global Investment Management Quarterly Strategy Letter 2016 Q4

Looking in the rear view mirror on the global markets—including the resurgence of populism, the Fed’s annual rate migration, and portfolio positioning—another up year is in the books for U.S. equities, with 2016 marking the eighth consecutive calendar year to have a positive total return on the S&P 500 Index. This time around the U.S. large capitalization index posted a resilient 11.95 percent total return with 2.41 percent coming from dividends and 9.5 percent from price appreciation. While Trump’s victory was a big surprise for some voters, it surprisingly did not startle the markets as investors weighed the President’s potential policies and their effects on the United States economy and elsewhere.