All three major stock indexes on Wall Street ended higher on Monday, eking out gains in what still became Wall Street’s worst year since 2018. The S&P 500 ended up 0.85 percent, the Nasdaq closed 0.77 percent higher and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 1.15 percent for the day on Monday, a nice improvement considering the low volume of the pre-holiday trading day. Though the entire year was relatively rocky for the US indexes, December was by far the worst month, with the S&P 500 seeing its worst month since the Great Depression and the Nasdaq entering bear market territory after plummeting 20 percent from its high. The S&P ended the year down 6.2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 5.6 percent this year, while the Nasdaq Composite managed to escape with ‘only’ a 3.9 percent ecline in 2018 (still its worst annual loss in a decade).
2019 is poised to be an interesting year. With threats of an increased trade war between the US and China still hovering, the Brexit finale drawing to a head, and uncertainty regarding the number of interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve will implement, there are a lot of potential stumbling blocks on the road ahead. Still, despite the potential for trouble, some analysts are remaining optimistic and are expecting an upturn in 2019 to compensate for 2018’s declines.