4 Big Lessons from a Glance Back at 2013

So often we get caught up in the day to day movements in the market as traders and investors. Will stocks break out? Is a correction coming? What about that inflation impact on Gold? Will the Government shutdown ruin my account? With instant news all day long every day it is easy to get swept away. But when you step back from the day to day action and take a longer perspective what has really happened this year? The performance chart below is very simple. It shows the year to date performance of six markets: S&P 500 ($SPX), German DAX ($DAX), Gold ($GLD), US Dollar ($UUP), Shanghai Composite ($SSEC) and US Treasuries ($TLT). Just six lines emanating from the same point yet there is so much information displayed.