Dimensional’s Quarterly Market Review (Q4 2017 & TY 2017)

Hunches, Headlines and Indicators – 2017 Market Performance

It’s a wrap! 2017 market performance numbers are now available for the fourth quarter and the year. And, wow, what a year it was. The Wall Street Journal called it “The Year Everything Went Up.” In a Bloomberg column, Barry Ritholtz declared it “A Very Weird Year in Markets.” The New York Times reflected on how wrong most expert predictions were – as usual.

Today, we share Dimensional Fund Advisor’s latest Quarterly Market Review, along with its 2017 Annual Market Review. We hope you’ll use them to reinforce the importance of sticking to your own financial goals and risk tolerances, no matter how “weird” (and in this case, mostly wonderful) one year of returns may seem.

Even more fervently, we hope you’ll continue to ignore the usual “noise” suggesting that some forecasters know what 2018 has in store for us. To reinforce that message, Dimensional paired its latest market review with another piece. “As Goes January, So Goes the Year?” dispels the myth that January returns have been a reliable predictor for the rest of the year. Its sage conclusion: “Rather than trying to beat the market based on hunches, headlines, or indicators, investors who remain disciplined can let markets work for them over time.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Link to Dimensional’s Quarterly Market Review:   Q4_2017

Link to Dimensional’s 2017 Annual Market Review