Geopolitically and economically, this is a challenging year coming to an end. Wars and natural disasters have kept the world in turmoil, Germany has a gigantic hole in its budget, and private consumers are still feeling the pinch of declining real wages despite declining inflationary pressure.

On the stock markets, however, little was felt of the difficult major weather conditions. Despite rising interest rates in Europe and the USA – which usually make other forms of investment more attractive and tend to make stock markets fall – the markets around the world have been rising significantly.

Year-end rally: Dax swings from record to record This year, the Dax in Frankfurt has recorded a plus of around 20 percent and has set several new records during the year-end rally. The new record is now just above the 17,000 mark and could soon be broken again. Between the years the leading index was less volatile, many investors are in the Christmas break or have withdrawn to the sidelines. On the last trading day of the year, the Dax recorded a slight premium and ends the year at just over 16,775 points.

With its plus of almost 20 percent, the Dax outperforms its smaller counterparts: Although investors in the second and third rows could also reap gains, these were far less generous than in Germany’s first stock market league. This means that the MDax of mid-cap stocks has recorded a plus of 6.7 percent on an annual basis. The SDax of smaller stocks recorded a year-on-year increase of around 16 percent and the TecDax recorded a total increase of 13 percent over the past 12 months. All members of the Dax family have in common that they have made an impressive run in the last two months of the year, which was comparatively weak in the MDax.

MDax records comparatively meager annual plus Looking at the individual stocks, 11 titles fell into the red in the Dax and 13 in the MDax. The highest price gains were recorded in the Dax by Rheinmetall and Heidelberg Materials with more than 50 percent each. In the MDax, Redcare Pharmacy – formerly Shop Apotheke – was able to almost triple within a year, and TAG Immobilien also more than doubled with a year-on-year increase of more than 120 percent.

In the MDax, Hochtief, Nemetschek and Gerresheimer can look forward to price gains of 90, 64 and just over 50 percent respectively between 3rd and 5th. On the side of capital destroyers, Siemens Energy and Bayer were the worst performers in the Dax this year with losses of more than 30 percent each, and HelloFresh holds the red lantern in the MDax with similar losses.

Strong development for MorphoSys in the SDax An exceptionally strong year for MorphoSys in the SDax ended with a course premium of almost 160 percent. Mutares was also able to almost double. KSB, flatexDegiro, SAF-Holland, Hypoport and Süss MicroTec also showed a strong performance with increases of between 70 and 85 percent.

On the loser side, Stratec (minus 45 percent), Verbio Vereinigte BioEnergie (minus 52 percent) and bottom light Adtran (minus almost 60 percent) were particularly painful.

Tops and Flops in the EuroStoxx 50 Investors who bet on stocks in 2023 also had a good run outside Frankfurt: The European index EuroStoxx was also buoyed up by a year-end rally and ends the trading year with a plus of almost 18 percent and thus slightly weaker than the Dax. UniCredit (plus 84 percent), Stellantis (plus 65 percent) and Inditex (plus 58 percent) had the highest price gains.

It was not until rank 6 that SAP followed with a year-on-year course gain of 45 percent, the first German value. Only 9 of the 50 EuroStoxx stocks slipped into the loss zone. Nokia and bottom light Bayer suffered the most with discounts of around 30 percent each.

Dow Jones: more winners than losers On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rose by almost 13 percentage points. Salesforce topped the list, almost doubling within a year, followed by Intel with almost 87 percent year-on-year plus, followed by Microsoft, whose shares appreciated by almost 50 percent in 2023. Only after Apple (plus 45 percent) and Boeing (plus 32 percent) did the giants from the financial sector follow with JP Morgan (plus 24 percent), American Express (plus 23 percent) and Visa (plus 21 percent).

On the loser’s side, Walgreens Boots Alliance was hit the hardest with a minus of almost 31 percent, the second weakest value in the Dow Jones was Chevron with a discount of almost 18 percent on the year.

Strong individual values in the S&P 500: here there were over 200 percent plus! The broader S&P 500 had a particularly successful year with a plus of almost 24 percent. Numerous individual values were able to double (or more than double) within the past 12 months: Arista Networks, Broadcom, Salesforce, Tesla, Palo Alto Networks and General Electric were between 95 and 105 percent above their previous year’s level.

PulteGroup, AMD and Carnival did even better, each increasing by 120 to 125 percent within a year. However, other top runners are on the winner’s podium: Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises appreciated by almost 150 percent, Meta shares by more than 190 percent and Nvidia by an impressive 230 percent.

Nasdaq again outstanding strong Capital destroyers with year-on-year losses of between 50 and 65 percent in the S&P 500 were Enphase Energy, FMC, SVB Financial Group, Advance Auto Parts and Lumen Technologies in the past stock market year. First Republic Bank, which still appears on the list, but practically no longer exists since the spring, was completely pulverized.

The technology index Nasdaq-100 presented itself extremely strong again with an increase of almost 55 percentage points. The top 6 values were able to double (or more than double) in 2023, another 5 individual values recorded course premiums of over 80 percent. At the bottom end, Biontech rival Moderna (minus 45 percent), Enphase Energy (minus 51 percent) and JD.com (minus 51 percent) can be found.

A look at Japan shows that shareholders can also enjoy a profitable trading year there. The year-end rally since early November can also be seen in the Nikkei, but the large breakout to the upside took place here in May. Unlike other indices, the Nikkei was not affected by