10 things you need to know before then opening bell

December 31, 2015

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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