02 Jan Wall Street 2016: Where are We Headed?

Now that trading is done (for most thankfully) for 2015, here’s the scorecard. The S&P 500 was down about 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.23%, the first time we had a down year since, gulp, 2008. The Nasdaq tech-heavy index was up almost 6% though while the Russell 2000 smallcap index was down about 6%.

Pretty hefty ups and downs in the markets this year. We saw major drops in energy prices and an economic slowdown in China. Employment improved in the US as the Fed decided to start increasing interest rates. Consumer stocks like Amazon and Nike did very well. But even potentially slow Apple iPhone sales impacted the indices. After starting the year off very strong, the number of IPOs and amounts raised were much lower than 2014.

I’m no economist or stock watcher. But the pundits seem to think we will remain in murk for a bit. No one is saying recession is on the horizon, in part because the economic growth remains there, but slow. But the markets are a little skittish, often a sign of things to come. Buckle up folks.