Major market indexes finished just about flat in 2015, but that disguised some pain as many stocks and sub-indexes were in the red for the year. The SPY was the star performer, up 1.27% for the year (including dividends), the overall US market (VTI) gained 0.36%, and international markets (x-US) lost 4.20%. The aggregate bond index (AGG) managed a gain of 0.48%.
For Q4, the SPY advanced 7.02%, VTI 6.24%, VXUS 2.57%. The bond index (AGG) fell 0.51% as the Fed raised interest rates in December. However, the year did not end on a good note despite the positive Q4 returns for equities. For December, the SPY dropped 1.73%, VTI -2.13%, VXUS -2.18% and the AGG -0.19%.
The market topped out on May 21, and then suffered a 12.29% correction that ended on August 25. The market rallied from there but did fall 5.2% between November 13 and December 20th.
Underneath the positive SPY and VTI numbers, most equities were down. Take out eight large-cap out performers like MSFT, AMZN, FB and GOOGL/GOOG, and the SP500 would have down by 4% according to Jessica Binder Graham of Goldman Sachs.
For the year, the midcaps (VO) fell 1.35%. Small-caps as measured by the IWM fell 4.46%. Dividend growers fell (VIG) 1.92%. Emerging markets (VWO) were down 15.82%. The big winner was large cap growth as measured by the QQQ, up 9.43%. Materials (XLB) were down 8.65% and energy (XLE) was down 21.47%. Consumer discretionary (XLY) was up 9.93%.