One of the reasons for the subpar returns is simple – valuations started the 2000s at extreme levels. The ten-year cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE) reached a level of 45 in December 1999, the highest level ever recorded in the US. (We examine approximately 40 global stock markets and how to use global CAPEs in our paper “Global Value: Building Trading Models with the 10 Year CAPE”.)