2018 was a challenging year a virtually all global equity indices finished negative. The global equity market as measured by the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) ended the year down -8.9% for the worst annual decline since 2008 (-41.8%). The fourth quarter was an especially difficult period as the MSCI ACWI had its worst quarterly return since Q3 2011. Several factors weighed on the global equity markets throughout the year including the US and China trade war and slowing global economic growth. The United States investment grade fixed income market was basically flat as the Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index returned +0.01%. We would like to highlight three key themes of 2018.