It was the market rally that defied gravity and left many with a case of vertigo.
Despite turbulence in Washington, China and Europe, which threatened at several points to pull the world into another recession, stock prices just kept rising in 2013. The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index led the way, ending the year almost 30 percent higher than it began, or 32.4 percent higher with dividends counted in. That’s the biggest jump since 1997, when the technology bubble was inflating. Even the returns from the heady years of the real estate boom were left in the dust.
Image: http://dealbook.nytimes.com
