2014 Recap --Looking Back; Investment & Finance Thread - Dec. 14

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Merry Christmas!  

We get to open some goodies a few days early here, first with the list of this past year's thread links (left) for a nostalgic walk down Memory Lane while we go over this past market strategies. 

Then we can number-plot check out how general markets fared. 

Stocks:  Looking over the past year (as of Dec. 19) we're seeing the S&P 500 up 12.0% and the NASDAQ up 14.1% --above average!  OK we've done better but I personally can live w/ this. 

However, maybe this is just me but something unusual this past year is that it's been unusually hard to gage.  Too many times it's seemed we were definately going one way and POW, we'd do the opposite. 

No problem.  What's good is we see what's happening, that the signs are dodgy, so we move forward knowing we got things not being what they seem. 

Good enough. 

Metals had a rough year but not as badly as many feared.  Sure, silver lost 20% but gold's actually about where it was a year ago.  IMHO Barchart's got a great longer term overview for precious metals at Gold And Silver - Nothing Is Ever As It Seems And No Respite For PMs.

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All of this begs the biggest, most often asked, and most useless market trend question: WHY?  OK, here are the top headlines for 2014 and the stories we can blame:

• Malaysia Airlines jetliner
• Ukraine invasion
• Violence in the Middle East --Libya, Gaza, Syria, Islamic State
• Ebola threat
• Anti law riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere
• Oil price crash
• Republican control of the Senate