Over the last several weeks Wall Street has learned a powerful and painful lesson: Sometimes nothing is safe.
Call them what you want to — Top Dogs, Smart Money, Heavyweights — these are the kings, and their castles are crumbling.
Funds that looked bulletproof are getting smoked.
Ray Dalio’s famous ‘All Weather’ fund is down 8% for the year. The top performer of 2012 is down 5.66% for the year as of last week.
Market gurus may try to make what’s happening sound complicated, but it’s really not. In fact, what’s going on can be explained in two big market and investing themes. The first theme is the overall effect of the Federal Reserve’s change in policy and what it’s doing to risk across asset classes. The second theme is an age-old debate about how people should structure their investments in general.