The last (and abbreviated) trading week of 2015 saw all but two of the indices closing lower. A December turnaround in the German market saw that country’s DAX index overtake Japan’s Nikkei 225 to emerge the top performer of 2015 with a strong return of +9.56%.
With the exception of Japan, investors enjoyed a Santa rally this week as six of the seven indices I track posted strong gains comfortably in excess of 1.5%. London’s FTSE 100 was the week’s top performer followed by Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40.
Each of the indices I track ended squarely in the red last week as negative news reports – corporate and economic – and large currency moves sent investors fleeing stocks.
The Chinese Yuan devaluation, disappointing Chinese manufacturing numbers, and poor earnings coupled with reduced forecasts from American blue chips Deere and HP were among the negative news bites which sent investors bailing out of stocks and seeking safety in treasuries.
On a more positive note, Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC 40 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 are still up 3.25%, 8.38%, and 11.38% respectively since the beginning of the year despite this week’s market carnage.
A review of how some of the major stock market indices did over the past week:
The Security Whisperer 