At the end of the year, US stocks closed down, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite all ending the year in the red. The S&P 500 suffered its worst performance since 2008, down 20%, the Dow fell 9%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 33%. High inflation and interest rates, as well as fears of a recession, were major factors in the market's downturn.
On the commodities front, West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.51%, while Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, jumped 3.03%. Gold rose 0.10%, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose five basis points to 3.88%. Bitcoin was down 0.36%, while ether dropped 0.08%.
Tom Lee of Fundstrat called out the single biggest risk to his bullish 2023 forecast, which calls for the S&P 500 to rally more than 20%. In other news, the US housing market remains gloomy and mortgage rates are set to rise after six weeks of declines.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has overtaken Jeff Bezos on the rich list this year, and is now close to overtaking Bill Gates as the second-wealthiest American after Elon Musk. Lastly, Cardano, Solana, and Internet Computer were among the top 10 worst performing cryptocurrencies in 2022, a year filled with scams and spectacular implosions.