Top 10 Dow Jones Industrial Average Factoids – 2018 in Review

1. At the Close

The DJIA ends an ugly year on a positive note; the last session added over 260 points to finish at 23,327.46 for a daily gain of 1.15% and the best final trading session since 2012. But for the year, the Average closed down 5.63%, the worst annual performance since 2008 and only the second negative yearly return of the last decade. The DJIA also closed out 2018 down over 13% from the high for the year; similarly, that was the worst since 2008 when the market closed nearly a full third lower (down 32.79% from that year’s high).

2. Prominent Themes

The return of volatility, the last legs(?) of a decade long bull market, tariffs and trade wars, interest rate increases and unpredictable US and global political climates.

3. New Highs

The DJIA logged 15 new highs in 2018, behind the pace of the last few years yet ahead of the annual average of 11 new highs per year since inception. In contrast, the DJIA reached more new highs in 2017 – 71 in total – than any year in history. There have been 53 calendar years when the DJIA notched at least 1 new high and 70 when none were recorded.

4.  Large Moves

Muted volatility was a major theme in 2017. But in 2018?  Yeah…no. This year, there were 69 trading sessions when the DJIA posted a move of 1% or greater. That performance is more volatile than historical averages: since 1940, the annual average is ~49 one percent moves or an experience that typically occurs in about 1 of every 5 trading sessions. In 2018, the statistic was greater than 1 in every 4 sessions. By comparison, in 2017 a 1% move occurred in only 1 of every 25 sessions. Similarly, the DJIA’s realized 21 day volatility ended the year at 28.51, nearly 4 times higher than the reading at the end of 2017.