Another Decade Done

One hundred years ago our global economy was entering the Roaring Twenties.  After a rough start, it was a period marked by economic prosperity in the West.  America was leading the way in finance.  Metropolitan regions were experiencing extraordinary growth.  Even Judy Garland wondered how they were going to keep returning soldiers on the farm.  Media was growing rapidly as new forms of advertising paved a route for information to find its way into more and more homes.  Women gained the right to vote thanks to the efforts of the suffrage movement.  Films moved from silent and colorless to loud and brilliant.  What a decade!

As we knock on the door of the newest version of the twenties, I can’t help but think the last decade already resembled that of the 1920s.  Of course, history doesn’t repeat but can you hear it rhyme?  Fortunately, it wasn’t another world war, but the teens got underway on the heels of a particularly destructive world recession.  The period that followed has been remarkable.  Like the Roaring Twenties, urbanization helped boost the wealth of the nation’s largest cities. Cranes dominated the skylines of New York, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles.  Social media grew exponentially, changing the way Americans consume news.  Women pressed forward in their march toward equality, leveraging the #metoo movement to shed light on their continued plight.  And entertainment began moving from the luxury theaters to streaming at home as the likes of Amazon and Netflix revolutionized movie consumption.

As the next decade unfolds, there are countless innovations, cultural evolutions, and other societal-shaping developments ahead.  We are not futurist, so we don’t know how these things will impact markets.  However, we are observers, and we will continue watching over market data, turning it into useful information, and letting this data drive our portfolio mix. The decade ahead doesn’t have a moniker yet, but we’re willing to bet it won’t be the Boring Twenties.