The year nothing worked: stocks, bonds, cash all go nowhere in 2015

New York

THE idea behind asset allocation is simple: when one market struggles, it's OK because an investor can jump into another that is thriving. Not so in 2015.

In fact, if you judge the past year by which US investment class generated the largest return, a case can be made that it was the worst for asset-allocating bulls in almost 80 years, according to data compiled by Bianco Research LLC and Bloomberg. With three days left, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has gained 2.2 per cent with dividends, cash is up less, while bonds and commodities are showing losses.