After the economic roller-coaster ride experienced since 2008, investors are finally being rewarded with what equity markets are meant to provide. That is a reasonable rate of return that fairly reflects the risk of being a partial owner of a commercial enterprise.
In theory, the developed equity markets should not offer the 15%-plus returns that many demand, nor should they demonstrate a level of volatility that does not fairly reflect changes in fundamentals. However, large drops in equity value followed by abnormal 'recovery returns' have become increasingly commonplace since the 1999 technology bubble.