
A volatile stock market closed 2015 with a small loss of 0.70% on the S&P 500 index and 1.0% for the Dow. The US Dollar gained about 9% against other major currencies resulting in a 1% loss in the EFA Index for dollar denominated investors.
The Federal Reserve finally began raising rates at the end of 2015. The Barclays Aggregate Bond Index ended 2015 with a small 0.48% gain for the year. Yet trouble in the oil patch resulted in a 4.47% loss in the High Yield Index and a 0.77% loss for the Corporate Credit Bond Index.
As the Morningstar Stock Heat Map shows Large Cap Growth stocks were the only bright spot for 2015.
