What happened this weeK

Friday was the final day of trading in a painful year for stocks. All three of the major averages suffered their worst year since 2008 and broke a three year winning streak. The Dow fared the best of the indexes in 2022, down about 8.8%, the S&P 500 dropped 19.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq sank 33.1%. 

2022 certainly was a difficult year; record high inflation, aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, growth and technology stocks hit the hardest in the markets, geopolitical concerns, Covid and the invasion of Ukraine. 

However, despite the year’s overall losses both the Dow and S&P500 were up in Q4, perhaps a light a the end of a very dark tunnel. 

Friday was the final trading day of the 2022, but also for the quarter, month and year. Here’s how the major market averages fared over those time frames.

The Dow finished:

• down 8.78% for the year

• up 15.39% for the quarter

• down 4.17% for the month

• down 0.17% for the week

The S&P 500 finished:

• down 19.44% for the year

• up 7.08% for the quarter

• down 5.90% for the month

• down 0.14% for the week

The Nasdaq Composite finished:

• down 33.10% for the year

• down 1.03% for the quarter

• down 8.73% for the month

• down 0.30% for the week

The Russell 2000 small caps finished:

• down 21.56% for the year

• up 5.8% for the quarter

• down 6.64% for the month

• up 0.02% for the week

Cited from cnbc.com

Looking ahead to this week and the start of 2023:

Tues Jan 3rd: S&P US Manufacturing PMI

Wed Jan 4th: Job Openings and FOMC Minutes

Thurs Jan 5th: Initial Jobless Claims and Trade Deficit

Fri Jan 6th: Dec Unemployment Rate and Factory Orders

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!