What we’re reading (12/30)
“Stock, Bond And Crypto Investors Remain On Edge After Brutal Year For Markets” (Wall Street Journal). “This year was a bust for markets. Stocks tumbled. Bonds were hit by their worst selloff ever. And cryptocurrencies were eviscerated, leading to the collapse of industry giants including FTX. The tumult across global markets had a chilling effect on Wall Street and beyond. Companies that hoped to go public scrapped their plans. Banks that typically cash in on fees for advising on deals and initial public offerings are slashing bonuses because of the drought. And retirees saw their savings shrink. The S&P 500 fell 19% for the year, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 8.8%. The Nasdaq Composite declined 33%, hurt by a steep slide in technology shares. All three indexes logged their biggest declines since 2008, the year Lehman Brothers collapsed. Trading was quiet ahead of the holiday weekend, with stocks ending a touch lower.”
“The Year The Long Stock Market Rally Ended” (New York Times). “Jan. 3, the first day of market trading in 2022, looked like just another day in a stock rally that began when Barack Obama was still president. The S&P 500 hit a record high. Tesla, the company that upturned the auto industry and made many investors rich, rose 13.5 percent and came close to its own all-time peak. That Monday, it turned out, was actually the end of a market that for over a decade had gone mostly in one direction, with the S&P 500 rising more than 600 percent since March 2009.”
“Stocks Fall To End Wall Street’s Worst Year Since 2008, S&P 500 Finishes 2022 Down Nearly 20%” (CNBC). “As the calendar turns to a new year, some investors think the pain is far from over. They expect the bear market to persist until a recession hits or the Fed pivots. Some also project stocks will hit new lows before rebounding in the second half of 2023.”
“After $18 Trillion Rout, Global Stocks Face More Hurdles In 2023” (Bloomberg). “More tech tantrums. China’s Covid surge. And above all, no central banks riding to the rescue if things go wrong. Reeling from a record $18 trillion wipeout, global stocks must surmount all these hurdles and more if they are to escape a second straight year in the red.”
“Deal-Making Thrived, Then Hit A Road Bump” (DealBook). “Heading into 2022, Wall Street’s deal-makers thought it would be hard to maintain last year’s record-breaking pace for mergers and acquisitions. Still, few thought their businesses would fall by too much. But the M.&A. business hit turbulence in the middle of the year and hasn’t recovered.”
