10 things you need to know before then opening bell

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December 31, 2015

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There's not much in terms of market-moving headlines Thursday, as many markets have been closed for New Year's Eve.

But 2015 has been a memorable one in the markets. So we thought we'd share some highlights.

Here is what you need to know.

Stocks are little changed for 2015.

  • Heading into the final day of trading, the S&P 500 sits at 2,063.36, virtually unchanged from its 2014 closing price of 2,058.90. The last time the benchmark averaged finished the year flat was 2011. Currently, the Dow is down 1% and the Nasdaq is up 7%.
  • European markets ended the year mixed. Germany's DAX gained 10%, while Italy's MIB was the top performer, up 13%. On the downside, Britain's FTSE lost 5% and Spain's IBEX fell 7%.
  • The major Asian indexes were mostly higher. China's Shanghai Composite and Japan's Nikkei each gained 9%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lagged, losing 7%.

US Treasurys lost ground in 2015.

  • Treasury yields put in their lows for the year in January.
  • Up front, the two-year surged to fresh six-year highs after the Federal Reserve announced an interest-rate increase in December. For the year, the two-year rallied 60 basis points to 1.07%.
  • The 10-year yield put in its 2015 high of 2.48% in June before ending the year up 43 basis points at 2.29%.
  • Selling at the long end caused the 30-year yield to rise 28 basis points to 3.03%. The yield on the long bond put in its 2015 peak of 3.24% in June.

The US dollar rallied in 2015.

  • The US Dollar Index climbed 9% in 2015.
  • The Canadian dollar was the worst-performing major currency versus the greenback, plunging 16.4% to 1.3889 per dollar as a result of the weakness in oil prices.
  • The euro was also hit hard, falling 10% to 1.0913 as the European Central Bank announced a policy of negative interest rates.
  • The Swiss franc could be the lone major currency to gain versus the dollar. In January, the Swiss National Bank removed its euro-franc floor, causing the Swiss franc to skyrocket. The currency hit a high of .8392 per dollar, up 16%. By the middle of March, however, virtually the entire move had been erased. The franc is up 0.2% at .9919 per dollar heading into the final trading day of the year.

Commodities had a bad 2015.

  • Precious metals saw some early strength in 2015 but sold off throughout the year after their January gains. Gold sank 10% to $1,062 an ounce and silver lost 12% to $13.88 an ounce. On the industrial side, copper plunged 25% to $2.1360 a pound.
  • The energy complex had a rough year. Crude oil tumbled 31% to $36.74 a barrel as oil inventories swelled amid OPEC's plan to push out US shale players. An unseasonably warm fourth quarter pushed natural gas down to $1.75 per million British thermal units, but a late rally saw the energy component end 2015 down 19% at $2.37.
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