2022 turned out to be an own goal for investors. It wasn’t good, perhaps awful. High inflation led to higher rates, and higher rates and a potentially slowing economy dragged investments down. How did particular segments and investments do? We’ll review in this piece.
S&P 500
The largest 500 companies in America were down -19.44% in 2022. No monthly buy signal yet.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The oldest US index, the Dow was only down -8.78% in 2022. A monthly buy signal is close.
Nasdaq
The tech heavy Nasdaq lost almost 1/3 in 2022. No monthly buy signal. Stocks like Apple and Amazon lost $800 billion each in market cap.
US Treasury Note 10-yr Price
US 10 year Treasury bonds were not immune from going down in price. Higher interest rates on new bonds forces down bond prices with lower interest rates. Price goes down and interest rates go up. They turned in a -13.62% performance last year.
Oil
Oil prices went up strongly with Putin’s war but peaked mid-year with a sell signal. Prices were up +6.71% in 2022.
Gold
Gold was close to breakeven in 2022. A buy signal was close to being generated.
Bitcoin (Dollars)
Energy sucking Bitcoin’s chart was a disaster, as was crypto in general. Higher rates and key bankruptcies/ frauds burst the crypto bubble. Bitcoin was down -57.06% for 2022.
Ethereum (Dollars)
Ethereum graduated to proof of stake, sharply reducing energy usage. Ethereum was down -55.56% in 2022, losing more than half its 2021 year end value.
MS EAFE index
The EAFE acronym stands for Europe, Australasia and Far East. Markets outside the US were down -16.79%.
Apple
Apple’s price loss was better than the Nasdaq, down -26.31% in 2022.
Amazon
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, had a rough year, losing almost half and far worse than the Nasdaq. The Mandalorian bought a couple of shares and has a heavy loss.
Meta (formerly Facebook)
Meta’s investment in the metaverse did not payoff. The shares lost -64.22% last year, worse than Bitcoin!
Tesla
Tesla’s -65.02% loss last year meant the stock lost almost 2/3’s of its value in one year. The valuation bubble has burst. The loss continued on 1/3/2023.
Of all the investments above, only the Dow and gold are close to buy signals. Whether they are durable lows or temporary bounces won’t be known until 20/20 hindsight.
What was your best and worst investment last year? In part 2, we’ll review various parts of our own portfolio.
Wishing you a healthy, happy, and wealthier New Year!
My story is one of tragedy and redemption. We've made many mistakes along the way regarding our money. Our goal here is to show you how to take care of your money life long, and as much as we can, help the Earth along the way. I call it sustainable personal finance and ethical capitalism.
Currently, I am a part time writer for Cleantechnica and part-time licensed financial professional, along with being a full-time dad.
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