Fidelity Investments' Director of Global Macro, Jurrien Timmer, recently shared an updated rendition of the firm’s famous "Periodic Table of Investment Returns."
The performance leaderboard shows that the high-flying gains seen in certain global equities stood in sharp contrast to a painful cooling-off period for traditional safe havens and alternative assets.
Winners and losers
Emerging markets, small-cap equities, and Japanese markets successfully claimed the top spots on the leaderboard; Bitcoin, gold, and long-term bonds languished at the very bottom of the performance matrix.
A closer, detailed inspection of the periodic table’s historical architecture demonstrates how radically the investment landscape shifted in the first half of 2026.
Looking at the final column on the far right of the matrix, which tracks the monthly data up to June 2026, the bottom section is heavily dominated by a distinct block of bright orange tiles labeled with the letter "B".
According to the table's master legend, this orange designation specifically tracks the performance of Bitcoin. The clustered aggregation of these orange tiles at the foot of the 2026 column vividly illustrates that the leading cryptocurrency experienced an intense period of underperformance compared to almost every other liquid asset class on the grid.
Interspersed among these low-ranking Bitcoin tiles are other notable underperformers that typically move on different market dynamics.
Long-term treasuries, designated by the light green "LT" tiles, and spot gold are pinned right alongside Bitcoin in the lower echelons of the June layout.
This parallel slump creates an unusual market phenomenon where an aggressive, digital risk asset like Bitcoin and a conservative, physical store of value like gold simultaneously occupied the worst-performing tier.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
