The United Kingdom has been the best performing market in 2022, with the FTSE 100 index up 2.9% (including dividends), in contrast to falls in many other markets.

The NZX 50 is down 11.0% in 2022, its weakest performance in a calendar year since 2008.

In June, the headline US inflation rate increased to the highest level since 1981.

Chevron was the Dow's top performer in 2022, rising more than 50% as US crude oil prices averaged more than US$95 a barrel, up from US$68 in 2021 and US$39 in 2020.

This year our headline unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since the 1980s.

In 2022, the Reserve Bank increased the OCR from 0.75% to 4.25%, the highest since January 2009. Further increases are expected in 2023.

Spark was the top performer in the NZX 50 in 2022, with a return of 23.3% (including dividends). Tourism Holdings was a close second, rising 21.7%.

All of the “FAANGs” fell heavily in 2022, as the heat came out of growth stocks in the wake of rising interest rates. However, Apple held up best with a more modest decline of 23.8% (Facebook/Meta was the weakest with a fall of 64.5%!).

Quenstown was the only place where house prices increased, with a gain of 5.7% in the year to November 2022. In contrast, Auckland and Wellington fell 18.4% and 19.5%, respectively.

Since peaking at almost US$68,000 last November, Bitcoin has fallen to just under $17,000, down 75% from its highs and back to late 2020 levels.

We haven't seen an increase of this magnitude since 1981, when Ronald Reagan was President and Paul Volcker was Chair of the Fed!

It's been a mixed bag for commodities in 2022, although nickel (which is used in batteries for electric vehicles) has very strong, with prices rising almost 40%.