Gold’s most explosive run happened decades before anyone was talking about it as an inflation hedge on the internet: from 1970 through January 1980 it compounded at roughly 35% a year, a total gain of about 1,900%.

The Dow spent the entire 1970s going almost nowhere. It closed 1969 at 800.36 and closed 1979 at 838.74 — a gain of just 38 points, in price terms, across ten full years.

Japanese stocks compounded at roughly 17% a year through the 1970s and nearly 29% a year through the 1980s — turning $10,000 in 1970 into about $610,000 by 1989. The bubble then burst so completely that the Nikkei 225 didn’t reclaim its December 1989 peak until February 2024, a 35-year round trip.

The only four-year losing streak in Dow history is the Great Depression: the index fell 17% in 1929, 34% in 1930, 53% in 1931, and 23% in 1932. 1931 remains the worst calendar year the Dow has ever recorded.