Wall Street suffers worst year in 14 years

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Wall Street, epitome for US financial markets, suffered its worst performance in 14 years as major stock exchanges had their worst annual decline since 2008.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 304 points, or 0.92%, to close Friday at 32,915. The blue-chip index fell 8.6% since the beginning of this year.

The S&P 500 declined 41 points, or 1.07%, to finish the last trading day of the year at 3,808. It was down 19.2% for the year.

The Nasdaq decreased almost 118 points, or 1.13%, to end Friday at 10,359. The tech-heavy index dove 33% since the start of 2022.

Record inflation and aggressive monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve led to high volatility and heightened uncertainty by investors, which led to a bear US stock market in the year of 2022.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, rose 3.6% to 22.22 at Friday's early close due to the last trading day before New Year's Eve.

The 10-year US Treasury yield increased 1.3% to 3.884%.

The dollar index fell 0.4% to 103.42, while the euro added 0.4% to $1.0703 against the greenback on Friday.

Precious metals were mixed, with the price of gold rising 0.3% to $1,820 per ounce but silver retreating 0.5% to $23.79 an ounce.

Crude oil prices were in positive territory with gains over 1%. Global benchmark Brent crude was up 1.6% to $84.78 per barrel. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was around $79.41 – up 1.3%.