Yesterday ushered in the Year of the Dragon – the most auspicious year in the Chinese lunar calendar. The dragon is one of 12 Chinese zodiac animals and symbolises power and prosperity. As The Economist pointed out on in a recent blog post, this could bode well for the stock market, which has started 2012 on a positive note. The Dow Jones Index has historically seen strong returns during dragon years. Can the same be said of fine wine?
To find out, we analysed the movement of the Liv-ex Fine Wine Investables Index between 1987 and 2010 and measured each animal year's average returns. As you can see, the pig – a symbol of peace and honour – was in fact been the best performer over this period. Nonetheless, the Year of the Dragon has coincided with robust growth in the past – a good omen, it seems, for 2012.
