The S&P 500 Index returned 30.43% in 2019. Including dividend reinvestment, the S&P 500 returned 33.07%.
Advanced Micro Devices finished the year up 150.2%. KLA Corp. was second up at 99.5%, followed by followed by Target at 95.5%, and Chipotle Mexican Grill at 93.8%.
Saudi Aramco’s IPO priced on Dec. 5, 2019, at the top end of its range, netting $25.6 billion. Alibaba’s IPO was valued at $12.9 billion, Uber’s at $8.1 billion and Pinterest’s at $1.6 billion.
Steven Mnuchin was sworn in as the 77th secretary of the Treasury on February 13, 2017 and served throughout 2019. He left office on January 20, 2021. Summers, Paulson and Lew preceded him. He was succeeded by Janet Yellen.
Jerome Powell, still in office as of the end of 2022, served as the chair in 2019, succeeding Janet Yellen.
In 2019, the U.S. economy grew 2.29% over 2018, a 0.63% decline from the annual change in 2018.
Parasite was nominated in three categories, winning for Best Picture in 2020. A dark comedy thriller from South Korea, Parasite follows a poor family who infiltrate and colonize the household of a family as clueless as it wealthy. It represented the first time a non-English film was named Best Picture.
2.1 million. In 2019, total nonfarm payroll employment expanded by 2.1 million, or 1.4%, continuing the longest job recovery and expansion in the history of the employment series from the Current Employment Statistics survey.
U.S. inflation rate for 2019 was 1.81%, a 0.63% decline from 2018.
5.28% was the 2019 average of the rates of the 10 largest banks over the four quarters of 2019.
The Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros, four games to three, in the 115th edition of the World Series played from October 22 to October 30, 2019.
The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII played on February 3, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It was the lowest-scoring game in Super Bowl history.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, was the youngest person recognized by Time magazine as Person of the Year. The others were all runners up for the honor in 2019.
Fiat Chrysler in 2019 agreed to pay nearly $650 million to settle lawsuits over its use of illegal engine-control software on diesel vehicles that produced false results on emission tests. Volkswagen had a similar scandal in 2017.
The sale of the Basquiat painting occurred in 2017. The other events all took place in 2019. Technically, Parliament ratified Brexit on December 20, 2019 to take effect on January 31, 2020.
