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Investors often think of the blue-chip FTSE 100 index of leading shares as staid, if not dull.
But over the past five years, the index has moved up by 60%.
That is pretty racy growth for a collection of businesses some of which – like Legal & General – were in operation before Queen Victoria ascended to the throne.
What is going on?
Mature markets are not always calm
If you cast your mind back to where you were and what you were doing five years ago, then things may become more obvious.
That March, markets had crashed as the global pandemic took hold. So looking at the past five years flatters the long-term performance of the FTSE 100 due to an abnormally low baseline.
If we extended the timeframe just a couple of months longer, to January 2020, the growth would have been only 13% until now. That is still growth – but a long way short of 60%!
Still, I think there…
