2023 Report Card: Here's how your favourite asset performed this year

This year has seen many twists and turns.

Traders and investors had to navigate through a US and European banking crisis, as well as a new war in the Middle East (even as the Russia-Ukraine war still rages on), all while deciphering what major central banks were doing with their respective benchmark interest rates.

In these remaining few trading hours remaining in 2023, it’s a proper time to share a snapshot of the year that was for global financial markets.

Here are the top performers* across various asset classes within the Alpari universe:

*annual % gain (source: Bloomberg data)

G10 currencies (vs. US dollar):

1. Swiss Franc (CHF) = +9.6%
    
2. British Pound (GBP) = +5.9%
    
3. Swedish Krona (SEK) = +4.9%
    
4. Euro (EUR) = +3.7%
    
5. Danish Krone (DKK) = +3.5%
    
6. Canadian Dollar (CAD) = +2.6%

Worst performer: Japanese Yen (JPY) = -7.5%

US stocks

(constituents of the S&P 500 index)

NOTE:  % figures as of US markets close on Thursday, Dec 28th

1. Nvidia = +238.9%
    
2. Meta Platforms = +197.8%
    
3. Royal Caribbean Cruises = +162.9%
    
4. Uber Technologies = +155.3%
    
5. Carnival Corp = +131.6%
    
6. Advanced Micro Devices = +129.7%

Worst performer: FMC Corp = -49.3%

Stock indices

1. NQ100_m = +54.5%
    
2. Jap225_m = +28.2%
    
3. SPX500_m = +24.6%
    
4. SPN35_m = +23%
    
5. GER40_m = +20.2%
    
6. STOX50_m = +19.4%

Worst performer: HSI50_m = -13.8%

Metals/Commodities

• XAUUSD (Gold) = +13.4%
   
• XAGUSD (Silver) = -0.7%
   
• BRN (Brent oil) = -9.7%
   
• WTI (US Crude oil) = -10.3%

Worst performer: NG (Natural Gas) = -40%

Cryptocurrencies

1. Solana = +974%
    
2. Avalanche = +284.7%
    
3. Chainlink = +196.2%
    
4. Bitcoin Cash = +165.1%
    
5. Bitcoin = +159.2%
    
6. Cardano = +153.7%

Worst Performer: Litecoin = +9%

Safe to say, 2023 has seen its fair share of trading and investing opportunities come and go.

The question now is ...

What kind of market opportunities would the new year bring?

We'll keep you posted along the way with our Daily Market Analysis, starting with our 2024 Outlook due to be published on Tuesday, January 2nd.