The bars in the chart show the total return for the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index each year since 1976, the inception of the index. The red dots show the largest peak to trough decline that occurred that year. History shows that bear markets for bonds are more like koala bears than grizzly bears, given the average intra-year decline is just 3.3% per year vs. an average decline in equities of 14.3%. Further, following bad years of performance, bonds tend to deliver strong returns.