The latter part of 2018 was very volatile. My portfolio experienced drops as large as $50K and some daily movements were $10K. The dollar remains strong. There were several Fed rate hikes in the year and this has put downward pressure on stocks and increased demand for the US dollar. Strong dollar and high rates are not good for dividend paying stocks, a lot of which do business internationally. Fed Powell's prospect of future rate hikes in 2019 also created unease as the economy in the USA and China were already showing signs of cooling. Oil prices remained severely depressed which is a positive for many of my investments as oil is an input resource. I am not invested in oil companies due to the volatility and dependency on oil prices.
Recently the market has recovered moderately from the lows after Powell suggested that the Fed will take a more observatory approach to see if future rate hikes are needed. Things on investors minds include what will materialize from the China and USA trade negotiations, Powell's view on future rate hikes, and the recent government shutdown due to disagreement between the President and the government on the border wall.
