U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday to begin 2016, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index off to its worst start in 15 years as a rout in Chinese equities renewed concern that an economic slowdown there will damp global growth. The Dow dropped 168 to 16,346 on Friday, for a 6.2% loss for the week, the S&P was down 21 and 6% to 1,922 and the Nasdaq was off 46 or 7.3% last week to 4,644.
European stocks were among the world’s top performers in 2015, playing catch-up with global markets that they have trailed for many years. Stocks soared during the first half of the 2015, powered by the European Central Bank’s massive stimulus program. But in August, indexes from Germany to Britain were pulled down by worries over global growth and the commodity rout. With the ECB continuing to pump cash into the economy, many investors believe that European outperformance will continue in 2016.
2015 was not a good year to bet on IPOs. Many of the companies that underwent initial public offerings in 2015 received a tepid welcome into the open market.
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