US bonds beat stocks over 30 years in post-Civil War first

Long-dated US treasuries have returned more than the S&P 500 over a 30 year period for the first time since the 19th century.

Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research, told Bloomberg that long-term US government bonds had gained an average of 11.5% a year over the past three decades versus an average 10.8% increase in the S&P 500 over the same period. Jeremy Siegel, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said stocks had risen more than bonds over the course of every 30-year period since 1861. "The generation-long outperformance of bonds over stocks has been the biggest investment theme that everyone has just gotten plain wrong," Bianco told Bloomberg. "It's such an ingrained id...