Weakest year for US stocks since 2008
US media say the world’s biggest economy had the worst performance in its stock markets last year after the economic downturn of 2008.
Equities ended a volatile year marginally lower than where it started in January 2015 and consequently reduced the expectations for 2016, reported The Times Gazette.
“Throughout the year, the performance of the market was impacted by expectations of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, continuing downtrend in oil prices and a slowdown in some major emerging markets,” it added.
Oil, it added, was the worst suffered ending the year with a loss of 30 percent and the US oil winding up at $37 per barrel.
The report said that 2015 marked the first year of loss for the Dow since 2008. “However, Nasdaq, the tech-heavy index rose by 5.7 percent and was the singular major index in the US to record a rise,” The Times Gazette added.
It said the commodities that saw the worst impacts were oil, gold, copper, and agricultural commodities. On the other hand, there has been a better performance in the consumer discretionary sector specifically by hotel companies, retailers and car manufacturers. The health sector is also believed to have been in the black territory in 2015.
As for individual stocks, the winners have been identified as Amazon and Netflix which registered a gain of 118 and 134 percent, respectively.
However, big names like Micron and Western Digital showed major negative performances with stock losses of 59 and 45 percent, respectively.
Apple, too, shed over 4 percent, registering an annual loss for the first time since 2008, added The Times Gazette.
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