On the performance of the S&P 500 over the past decade.

• Author: Rees, Matthew
• Position: Economic and market volatility

"Over the ten years through January, an investor holding the stocks in the S&P's 500-stock index, and reinvesting the dividends, would have lost about 5.1 percent a year after adjusting for inflation, as is shown in the accompanying chart. Until now, the worst ten-year period, by that measure, was the period that ended September 1974, with a compound...