| Session 12: Portfolio Management Reading 52: Portfolio Risk and Return: Part I
 
 
 LOS b: Describe the characteristics of the major asset classes that investors would consider in forming portfolios according to mean-variance portfolio theory.     Over the long term, the annual returns and standard deviations of returns for major asset classes have shown: 
 
 
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| A) | a negative relationship. |  |  
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| B) | a positive relationship. |  |  
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| C) | no clear relationship. |  |  
 
   
In most markets and for most asset classes, higher average returns have historically been associated with higher risk (standard deviation of returns). 
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