Curveball

“Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills?,” asks Arizona State University’s Hendrik Bessembinder. Well played, professor. The reply to the headline’s question surely can’t be yes, because that would be no story at all; everybody knows that stocks beat Treasuries. But how could it be no? Everybody knows that stocks beat Treasuries.

So much for what we know. Bessembinder’s verdict: “Most common stocks do not outperform Treasury bills.”