Despite losing seven of the last nine Ryder Cups going back to 1995, U.S. fans can take some solace in the fact their equity markets have outperformed European counterparts over the last decade and a half.
In the 12 months ended Sept. 25, the Russell 3000 outperformed the MSCI Europe index by 373 basis points. Over the three- and five-year periods, U.S. equities have eclipsed European stocks by 223 and 496 basis points, respectively.
Over the long run, the gap closes -- since the inception of the MSCI Europe index in 1999, the Russell 3000 returned 5.7% vs. 4.6% annually for the MSCI index.