Category: 2016 Market
The Year in Review: 2016 Market Summary
Its difficult to predict the market over the short term, and 2016 has proven that point. Here are a few things that surprised the markets this year. Interest rates remain mainly unchanged for the year. In December 2015 the Fed increased interest rates for the first time in 9 years, and indicated plans to raise rates slowly in 2016. Due to concerns about less than robust economic growth, rates have remained at historic lows. Only post-election have interest rate sensitive sectors moved in response to anticipated rate increases in 2017. Late year rising bond yields during the quarter resulted in outright declines in bond-proxy sectors, such as utilities, staples, and real estate. In 2015 the China stock market declined, setting off global market declines and a return to volatility, but by late year that was all behind us or so we thought. 2016 started with another steep sell-off in the Chinese stock market which in turn caused global markets to sell off. World markets also tumbled after
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