The market and the economy in 2015
It is fascinatingly easy to be overwhelmed by noise. The financial markets are dominated by a cacophony of signals, and selecting indicators in support of the view that you happen to hold at any given time is remarkably straightforward. Cherry-picking key figures is a popular and effective way of rationalising gut feeling.
Not infrequently, the outcome is very different from what many observers predicted it would be. For the average Norwegian investor, 2015 produced a reasonably satisfactory return on Norwegian shares, a very good return on international shares and disappointing returns on most corporate bonds – presumably a safer asset class than shares.
This is how we got there.
More on the market and the economy this year.
2015 in a nutshell
| OSEBX | +5.9% |
|---|---|
| S&P 500 return | +1.4% |
| MSCI World net (USD) | -0.9% |
| 3-month NIBOR | from 1.48 to 1.13% |
| 10 year Norwegian Treasury | from 1.61 to 1.54% |
| Share turnover Oslo Børs (value) | +5.3% |
| Brent Blend | from USD 57.33 to USD 37.28 |
|---|---|
| USD/NOK | from 7.43 to 8.81 |
| EUR/NOK | from 9.04 to 9.62 |
| GDP growth global | 3.1% |
| GDP growth Norway | 1.6% |
| GDP growth Mainland Norway | 1.0% |
Sources: Oslo Børs, S&P Dow Jones Indices, MSCI, Norges Bank, FactSet, IMF, SSB, Pareto.