The US stock market's upward momentum came to a halt on the last trading day of 2023, but still achieved the longest consecutive weekly gains since 2004. Chinese concept stocks outperformed the broader market once again, while nickel, cobalt, oil, and gas suffered a sharp decline throughout the year.

On the last trading day of 2023, the US stock market failed to maintain the Christmas rally at the end of the year. In the morning session, the main stock indexes turned down, while Chinese concept stocks successfully closed out the year. On Friday, they continued to follow the upward trend of A-shares and Hong Kong stocks, outperforming the broader market for the third day this week. Game-related stocks such as NTES-S rebounded after a sharp decline on Tuesday.

Although the upward momentum cooled off on Friday, the major US stock indexes continued their upward trend since the end of October, with a double-digit increase for the year without suspense. Despite multiple geopolitical risks such as uncertainty in the Federal Reserve's decisions, the threat of an economic recession, the Silicon Valley banking crisis, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the US stock market rebounded strongly this year, with the Nasdaq 100 delivering its best performance since the late 1990s dot-com bubble. The AI frenzy sparked by ChatGPT and the fear of missing out (FOMO) have both contributed to the stock market's surge this year. Seven blue-chip technology stocks rose more than 20% overall for the year, with AI benchmark NVIDIA surging over 200%.

A basket of AI concept stocks tracked by Goldman Sachs has risen more than 90% in 2023.

In the last two trading days of 2023, the rally in US Treasury prices took a pause. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond rebounded in the past two days, but due to positive news such as inflation cooling down and the prospect of a soft landing, as well as the signal from the Federal Reserve's last monetary policy meeting of the year that it will shift to a dovish stance next year, the combined yield for November and December fell by over 100 basis points, marking the largest two-month decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

Data showing a slowdown in inflation and the market's expectation of significant interest rate cuts next year, as projected by the Federal Reserve itself, have fueled a strong rebound in US Treasury prices in the fourth quarter. The two-year US Treasury, which is sensitive to interest rates, successfully reversed its two-year price decline. The US dollar index, on the other hand, was hit by expectations of interest rate cuts, posting its worst annual performance since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its first cumulative decline in the past three years. Expectations of interest rate cuts surged mainly in the fourth quarter, and the decline in the US dollar this year was led by the fourth quarter.

The market's expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year fluctuated significantly throughout the year. In March, the expected cumulative rate cut was less than 70 basis points, while in May and June, it exceeded 160 basis points. It fell sharply in September and October, and then rose again by over 160 basis points in December.

Under the pressure of the weakening US dollar, various non-US currencies appreciated for the year. The Swiss franc, which recently hit new highs not seen since 2015, recorded its largest annual gain since 2010. The British pound had its largest annual gain since 2017, ranking among the top two G10 currencies. On the other hand, the Japanese yen performed the worst among G10 currencies. The Bank of Japan has maintained its loose monetary policy until its last meeting of the year, in stark contrast to other major central banks that have raised interest rates multiple times over the past year. The renminbi, which rose sharply on Thursday, fell back. Offshore renminbi rose above 7.09 for the first time in nearly seven months, but then retreated more than 400 points. It rebounded by over a thousand points in the fourth quarter, although it still declined for the whole year, the downward trend was significantly eased compared to last year.

In the commodity market, industrial metals performed differently. Thanks to the fourth-quarter rebound, London copper saw a small increase for the whole year, and a sharp rise in December helped London aluminum achieve a full-year rebound. However, London nickel and London cobalt both suffered a decline of over 40% throughout the year. Commentators pointed out that while the supply of nickel, which is used in stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries, continues to increase, there is no sign of improvement in demand. As battery manufacturers shift to cheaper alternative materials, the oversupply is putting pressure on cobalt prices, which are expected to remain low next year. Despite the recent decline in gold prices, the precious metal saw a double-digit increase in the fourth quarter, leading to a significant rebound for the whole year.

The crisis in the shipping industry continues to ease, and international crude oil prices continue to fall to their lowest level since the outbreak of the crisis in mid-December. Due to a 20% decline in the fourth quarter, crude oil prices also saw a double-digit decline for the whole year, marking the first annual decline since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This reflects the market's concerns about demand prospects outweighing the impact of supply disruptions. From late October to December 8th, crude oil prices fell for seven consecutive weeks, marking the longest continuous decline in five years. Even though OPEC+ countries like Saudi Arabia increased or extended production cuts, they failed to reverse the downward trend. Two weeks ago, the dovish signal from the US Federal Reserve helped oil prices rebound, but the upward momentum lasted only one week. Natural gas prices in the United States fell nearly 30% in the fourth quarter due to the impact of a mild winter, marking the largest decline since 2006.

The three major US stock indexes have risen for nine consecutive weeks, with the Nasdaq 100 seeing its largest annual increase since 1999. Chinese concept stocks outperformed the market this week.

On Friday, the three major US stock indexes opened with minimal volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which opened slightly lower, quickly turned higher in early trading and rose by nearly 50 points at one point. The S&P 500, which opened with a slight decline, rose less than 0.1% in early trading. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which opened slightly higher, rose less than 0.1% in early trading, but all three indexes turned lower in early trading. The Nasdaq fell by more than 0.9% at one point in the morning session, and the Dow fell by more than 170 points, or nearly 0.5%, and the S&P fell by nearly 0.7%. However, the declines gradually narrowed.

In the end, all three indexes closed lower on the first day of the week. The Nasdaq fell by 0.56% to 15,011.35 points, marking a two-day decline and further distancing itself from the closing high since January 12th of last year. The S&P, which had barely achieved five consecutive gains on Thursday, fell by 0.28% to 4,769.83 points, falling from the closing high of January 4th of last year for three consecutive days. The Dow, which had risen for three consecutive days, fell by 20.56 points, or 0.05%, to 37,689.54 points, temporarily departing from the closing historical high achieved for two consecutive days.

The small-cap Russell 2000, which is dominated by value stocks, fell by 1.52%, underperforming the market for two consecutive days and falling from the closing high since April of last year for three consecutive days. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell by 0.34%, continuing to fall from the closing historical high achieved on Wednesday after a slight decline on Thursday. The Nasdaq Technology Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC), which measures the performance of technology stocks in the Nasdaq 100, fell by 0.42%, falling from the closing historical high achieved during the rebound on Thursday. It rose 0.2% for the week, marking nine consecutive weeks of gains and a nearly 18% increase in the fourth quarter. The annual increase is about 82.5%.

Although there was little volatility on Friday, most major stock indices recorded cumulative gains during this week, which included the Christmas holiday on Monday. The S&P 500 rose by 0.32%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.81%, the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.12%, and the Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.29%. All of these indices have seen nine consecutive weeks of gains, marking the longest weekly winning streak for the S&P 500 since January 2004. However, the Russell 2000, which has seen six consecutive weeks of gains, fell by 0.34%.

Weekly performance of major US stock indices

In December, major stock indices recorded cumulative gains, with two months of gains following three months of declines. The S&P 500 rose by 4.42%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 4.84%, the Nasdaq Composite rose by 5.52%, the Nasdaq 100 rose by 5.51%, and the Russell 2000 rose by 12.05%. In the fourth quarter, these indices all rose by more than 10%, rebounding after a decline in the third quarter. The S&P 500 recorded a cumulative gain of 11.24%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 12.48%, the Nasdaq Composite rose by 13.56%, the Nasdaq 100 rose by 14.34%, and the Russell 2000 rose by 13.55%.

In 2023, the S&P 500 recorded a cumulative gain of 24.23%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 13.7%, the Nasdaq Composite rose by 43.42%, the Nasdaq 100 rose by 53.17%, marking the largest annual gain since the dot-com bubble in 1999. The Russell 2000 rose by 15.09%.

Major US stock indices recorded cumulative gains of at least 10% in 2023, with the Nasdaq Composite rising by over 40% and the Nasdaq 100 rising by over 50%.

Among the Dow Jones Industrial Average components, customer relationship management (CRM) software giant Salesforce (CRM) fell by 0.9%. However, it still recorded a cumulative gain of 98.5% for the year, leading the component stocks. Pharmacy chain giant Walgreens (WBA) fell by over 1.8% in early trading and ended the year with a decline of about 30%, making it the worst-performing component stock.

Leading technology stocks experienced a simultaneous decline during trading, with most of them ending the year with losses. Tesla, which fell by over 3% on Thursday, continued to decline and closed down by nearly 1.9%. It has been on a downward trend for two consecutive days since December 13th, with a cumulative decline of 1.6% for the week and 0.7% for the fourth quarter. However, it rose by 3.5% in December and recorded a significant increase of nearly 102% for the year, rebounding after a decline of over 60% in 2022, which marked the largest annual decline since its listing.

Among the six major FAANMG technology stocks, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which had seen three consecutive days of gains and three consecutive days of closing at record highs, fell by 1.2%. Amazon fell by over 0.9%, Netflix fell by over 0.7%, Apple fell by 0.5%, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, fell by nearly 0.4%, while Microsoft rose by 0.2%. Including Apple, Microsoft, Google's parent company, Facebook, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Tesla, the seven major tech stocks all fell during Friday's trading session.

This week, Meta rose by nearly 0.2%, Microsoft rose by nearly 0.4%, Netflix saw a slight increase, while Alphabet fell by nearly 1.3%, Amazon fell by nearly 1%, and Apple fell by nearly 0.6%. In December, Meta rose by 8.2%, Alphabet rose by nearly 5.5%, Amazon rose by 4%, Netflix rose by 2.7%, and Apple rose by nearly 1.4%. Microsoft fell by nearly 0.8%. In the fourth quarter, Netflix rose by 28.9%, Amazon rose by 19.5%, Microsoft rose by nearly 19.1%, Meta rose by 17.9%, and Apple rose by nearly 12.5%. Alphabet rose by nearly 6.8%.

For the whole year, Meta rose by 194%, Amazon rose by 80.9%, Netflix rose by 65.1%, Alphabet rose by 58.3%, Microsoft rose by 56.8%, and Apple rose by nearly 48.2%. Apple performed the worst among these tech stocks for the whole year. Commentators believe that this is due to Apple's continuous decline in revenue for four consecutive quarters, marking the longest decline in 22 years.

Chip stocks as a whole are expected to fall for two consecutive days. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Semiconductor Industry ETF SOXX both turned negative in early trading, with a drop of over 1% at one point, and ultimately closed down by approximately 0.8% and 0.7% respectively. For the whole year, they have risen by approximately 65% and nearly 66%, respectively, achieving the largest annual increase since 2009. Among individual stocks, NVIDIA initially rose by nearly 1% after releasing the RTX 4090 D graphics card targeting the Chinese market and being rumored to launch the RTX50 graphics card next year. It then turned negative in early trading, rose again during midday trading, and ultimately closed flat. By the end of the trading day, it had risen by approximately 239% for the whole year. Arm, which rose over 4% on Thursday to reach a new all-time high, fell by 3%. AMD and KLA both fell by approximately 0.9%, Qualcomm fell by 0.8%, Micron Technology fell by 0.6%, and Intel fell by nearly 0.3%.

NVIDIA and Meta are the top two S&P 500 component stocks in terms of growth in 2023.

AI concept stocks fell across the board, underperforming the overall market. At the close, C3.ai (AI) fell by 5%, but still rose by nearly 156.6% for the whole year. SoundHound.ai (SOUN) fell by nearly 5%, BigBear.ai (BBAI) fell by over 8%, and Palantir (PLTR) fell by over 2%, while Adobe (ADBE) rose by nearly 0.2%.

Popular Chinese concept stocks generally rose against the market on Friday, continuing to outperform the overall market. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) rose by 1.9% in early trading and closed up by 1.1%. It outperformed the market for two consecutive days and the third day of the week, with a weekly increase of approximately 4.3%, but a year-to-date decline of 3.4%. Game stocks continued to rise, with NTES-S up nearly 5% in early trading and closing up 4.3%. Tencent's fan shares closed up 1%, while Bilibili rose over 4% at one point and closed up 2.8%. The performance of the three new carmakers varied, with Xiaopeng Motors rising over 4.8% in early trading and closing up 1.8%, Ideal Motors rising over 4% at one point and closing up 1.6%, while NIO Motors fell 3.8%. Among other individual stocks, JD.com rose nearly 2% in early trading and closed up 1.3% after winning the lawsuit against Alibaba's "choose one out of two" monopoly case and receiving a 1 billion yuan allocation. Alibaba's shares turned positive at midday, closing up nearly 0.4%. At the close, Douyu, which rose over 20% on Thursday, rose over 6%, New Oriental rose nearly 3.8%, Huya rose over 3%, iQiyi rose over 2%, Baidu, Gaotu Education, and Vipshop rose over 1%, Pinduoduo rose nearly 0.7%, while bitcoin mining giant Canaan Technology fell nearly 18%, marking a consecutive two-day decline of over 10%.

Among the stocks with larger fluctuations, electric vehicle manufacturer Fisker (FSR) rose over 28% in early trading and closed up 15.9% after announcing a 300% MoM increase in deliveries in the fourth quarter due to strong demand for its Ocean SUV, and plans to increase sales and deliveries in January next year to match production capacity with strong demand. Ride-hailing companies Lyft (LYFT) and Uber (UBER), whose ratings were downgraded from buy to neutral by Nomura, fell nearly 5% and over 2% in early trading, closing down 3.5% and 2.5% respectively. Medical device company Boston Scientific (BSX) rose 3.7% in early trading and closed up 2.7% after announcing the initiation of a clinical trial for its device as a first-line treatment for persistent atrial fibrillation.

Pan-European stock indices rebounded after two consecutive gains on Thursday. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.2% to 479.02 points, refreshing the closing high since January 20 last year when it reached 483.35 points. The major European stock indices that fell on Thursday rebounded on Friday.

In this week's three trading days, the STOXX 600 index rose slightly, marking seven consecutive weeks of gains. The performance of stock indices in various countries varied, with the UK stock index rising for five consecutive weeks, the German stock index rebounding after two weeks of decline, the French stock index falling for two consecutive weeks, the Italian stock index slightly falling and falling for three consecutive weeks, and the Spanish stock index falling after eight consecutive weeks of gains.

In December, the STOXX 600 index rose nearly 4%, marking two consecutive months of gains. Although the increase was not as high as the 6.5% increase in November, which was the largest monthly increase in ten months, it was the best performance in December in two years, with stock indices in various countries collectively rising for two consecutive months. In the fourth quarter, the STOXX 600 index rose over 6%, rebounding after the largest quarterly decline in a year in the third quarter, and stock indices in various countries rose, with the Italian and UK stock indices rising for five and two consecutive quarters respectively, and the German, French, and Spanish stock indices rebounding after three consecutive quarters of gains. In 2023, the FTSE 600 index rose by 12.74%, rebounding from a nearly 12.90% drop in 2022, which was the largest annual decline since 2018. It almost wiped out the gains from 2022 and marked the fourth consecutive year of growth in the past five years. Stock indices in various countries all saw annual gains, with the UK stock market rising for two consecutive years. However, its growth rate was at the bottom among all countries. The German, French, Italian, and Spanish stock markets, which experienced a decline in 2022, rebounded strongly in 2023, with the Italian stock market performing the best, rising by nearly 30%. The German and Spanish stock markets also saw gains of over 20%.

The ten-year German bond yield fell by more than 50 basis points throughout the year, while the ten-year US bond yield fell by over 100 basis points in the last two months of the year, marking the largest two-month decline since 2008.

European government bond prices fell for two consecutive days, causing yields to move away from multi-month lows. At the end of the bond market session, the yield on the UK 10-year benchmark government bond closed at 3.52%, up 3 basis points for the day. The yield on the 2-year UK bond closed at 3.92%, down 3 basis points for the day, hovering near a seven-month low. The yield on the 10-year German government bond closed at 2.02%, up 8 basis points for the day, continuing to move away from the one-year low of 1.89% set on Wednesday. The yield on the 2-year German bond closed at 2.38%, up 2 basis points for the day, rebounding after hitting a nine-month low in recent days.

Due to the rebound this week, European bond yields did not collectively continue to decline. The yield on the UK 10-year bond increased by about 2 basis points, and the yield on the 10-year German bond increased by about 4 basis points after four consecutive weeks of decline. However, the yields on the 2-year UK and German bonds continued to decline.

Due to market expectations of interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England next year, European bond yields fell sharply in December and the fourth quarter, leading to a decline for the whole year. The yield on the UK 10-year bond fell by about 65 basis points, declining for two consecutive months after rising for three months. The yield on the 10-year German bond fell by about 42 basis points, declining for three consecutive months. In the fourth quarter, the yield on the UK 10-year bond and the yield on the 10-year German bond fell by about 91 basis points and 82 basis points respectively, both falling after two consecutive quarters of increase. In 2023, they are expected to fall by about 14 basis points and 54 basis points respectively, after two consecutive years of increase.

The yield on the 10-year US benchmark government bond initially fell to 3.83% before the European stock market opened, then continued to rise. It reached 3.90% before the US stock market opened, returning to the level seen on Tuesday and erasing all the declines of the previous two days. It rose by about 6 basis points during the day, but fell slightly after the US stock market opened. It briefly fell to 3.85%, but did not approach the low of 3.78% reached on Wednesday, the lowest level since July 20. It closed at around 3.88% at the end of the bond market session, up about 4 basis points for the day, rising for two consecutive days.

The 2-year US bond yield, which is more sensitive to interest rate expectations, initially rose above 4.31% before the US stock market opened, reaching a new high in the past three days. It then fell and reached a low of 4.26% during the US stock market session, approaching the low of 4.23% reached on May 22, the lowest level since then. It closed at around 4.25% when the bond market closed early, down nearly 3 basis points for the day. After rebounding on Thursday, it fell back.

This week, the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds has cumulatively decreased by about 1 basis point, and the yield on 2-year US Treasury bonds has cumulatively decreased by about 7 basis points, both declining for three consecutive weeks. In December, the yields have cumulatively decreased by about 45 basis points and 43 basis points respectively, after rising for six consecutive months and then declining for two months. The combined decrease in the yield of 10-year US Treasury bonds in November and December is about 105 basis points, the largest two-month decline since the 2008 financial crisis.

In the fourth quarter, the yields on 10-year and 2-year US Treasury bonds have cumulatively decreased by about 69 basis points and 79 basis points respectively, after rising for two consecutive quarters. In 2023, the yield on 10-year bonds has cumulatively increased by about 1 basis point, rising for three consecutive years, but the increase is far less than the record-breaking 236 basis points in 2022. The yield on 2-year bonds has cumulatively decreased by about 18 basis points, falling after a record increase of 370 basis points in 2022, marking the first decline in the past three years.

Among various maturities of US Treasury bonds, the 5-year bond has the largest annual decline in yield, and the 2-year short-term bond has the highest decline. The benchmark 10-year bond has almost the same yield as a year ago.

The US Dollar Index has the largest quarterly decline in a year and the first annual decline in three years, while the Japanese Yen has fallen nearly 8% in a year.

The ICE US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the exchange rate of the US dollar against six major currencies including the euro, rose in early European trading after falling in pre-market trading, breaking through 101.40 and hitting a daily high. It rose nearly 0.2% during the day (closing at 101.229 on Thursday). The US stock market fell below 101.10 in early trading, hitting a daily low, and fell nearly 0.2% during the day. However, the US stock market completely reversed its decline during the midday session and did not fall below 101.00 for the first time in the past three days. It did not approach the intraday low of July 27th, which was close to 100.60.

By the close of the US stock market on Friday, the US Dollar Index was slightly below 101.40, rising nearly 0.2% during the day, falling by about 0.3% this week, 2% in December, 4.5% in the fourth quarter, and nearly 2.1% in 2023. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the US dollar against ten other currencies, rose by less than 0.1%, falling nearly 0.5% this week, nearly 2.1% in December, about 4.2% in the fourth quarter, and 2.7% in 2023.

Both the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index and the US Dollar Index rebounded for two consecutive days after falling for four consecutive days. They have fallen for three consecutive weeks this week and have fallen for two consecutive months in December after rising for three consecutive months. In the fourth quarter, they fell after rising for two consecutive quarters, marking the largest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of last year. The US dollar is expected to fall by more than 2% this year, marking the first annual decline in the past three years since 2020.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has the largest annual decline since 2020 and the first annual decline since 2020. In non-US currencies, the Swiss franc against the US dollar had the largest annual increase since 2010. The US dollar against the Swiss franc fell below 0.8360 before the US stock market, approaching the low point since 2015, with a cumulative decline of nearly 9% this year. The British pound against the US dollar rose above 1.2770 before the European stock market, but did not approach the high point since early August near 1.2830, with a cumulative increase of 5.4% this year, the best performance since 2017. The euro against the US dollar rose above 1.1080 in early Asian trading, but later gave up the gains and did not approach the high point of 1.1140 tested on Thursday, the highest level in five months. However, it has risen 3.1% this year, the best performance since 2020. The yen has risen for three consecutive days, with a two-day rise after the Bank of Japan Governor did not rule out the possibility of a rate hike in January. However, it has fallen sharply throughout the year. The US dollar against the yen fell to nearly 140.80 after a decline in the early US stock market, but has not fallen below the low point since the end of July, which was below 140.30 tested on Thursday, with a cumulative increase of about 7.6% this year.

Offshore renminbi (CNH) against the US dollar rose to 7.0875 in early Asian trading, breaking below 7.09 for the first time since June 2 and reaching a high point since June 2. It rose 308 points intraday, but overall maintained a downward trend after a decline in the European stock market. In early European trading, it fell below 7.13 to 7.1302, a drop of 427 points from the high point. In the early US stock market, it briefly turned higher.

At 5:59 am Beijing time on December 30th, the offshore renminbi against the US dollar was reported at 7.1258 yuan, a decrease of 72 points from the New York closing on Thursday. It fell back after a rebound on Thursday. It rose 286 points this week, rebounding after a drop of nearly 200 points last week. It rose 201 points in December, rising for two consecutive months, as it rose nearly 2,000 points in November. It rose 1,696 points in the fourth quarter, rebounding after two consecutive quarters of decline. It fell 2,038 points in 2023, declining for two consecutive years, but the decline was milder than the 5,652 points in 2022.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly rose above $43,100 in early US stock trading, but continued to fall. After falling below $42,000 in the midday US stock market, it tested below $41,700, reaching the lowest level since December 18th. It fell more than $1,400 and more than 3% from the high point, hovering around $42,000 at the close of the US stock market. It has fallen more than 1% in the past 24 hours, with a cumulative increase of nearly 150% in 2023, rebounding after a decline of more than 60% in 2022.

Crude oil fell for three consecutive days to a two-week low, with a 20% decline in the fourth quarter and the first annual decline in three years. US WTI February crude oil futures fell by $0.12, or 0.17%, to $71.65 per barrel, while Brent March crude oil futures fell by $0.17, or 0.22%, with both US and Brent crude hitting their lowest closing levels since December 15th for the second consecutive day.

US crude oil fell by about 2.6% this week, while Brent crude fell by 2.57%. After two weeks of consecutive gains, they both fell back. This is the eighth consecutive week of decline since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In December, US crude oil fell by 5.67% and Brent crude fell by 6.99%, marking three consecutive months of decline.

In the fourth quarter, US crude oil fell by about 21.1% and Brent crude fell by over 19%, both falling after a rebound in the third quarter. This is the third consecutive quarter of decline for US crude oil and the fifth consecutive quarter of decline for Brent crude oil. In 2023, US crude oil fell by a cumulative 10.73% and Brent crude fell by 10.32%, falling after two consecutive years of gains.

US gasoline and natural gas futures continued to fluctuate. NYMEX January gasoline futures, which fell for two consecutive days, rose by 0.8% to $2.103 per gallon, bidding farewell to the low since December 13th. They fell by about 1.8% this week, marking two consecutive weeks of decline. In December, they fell by over 3.3%, falling after three consecutive months of decline since November. In the fourth quarter, they fell by nearly 12.4%, marking three consecutive quarters of decline. In 2023, they fell by 15.1%.

NYMEX February natural gas futures, which rose for two consecutive days, fell by 1.68% to $2.5140 per million British thermal units, falling from the high since December 5th. They rose by nearly 1% this week, marking two consecutive weeks of gains. In December, they fell by about 9%, marking two consecutive months of decline. After three consecutive quarters of gains, they fell by about 28% in the fourth quarter, with a cumulative decline of nearly 44% for the whole year, the largest annual decline since 2006.

London copper rose for two consecutive months and rebounded for the whole year, while London nickel and London cobalt fell by over 40% in a year. Gold fell from its record high for consecutive days, but rose by over 10% in the fourth quarter.

London base metal futures showed mixed performance on Friday. London copper fell for two consecutive days, closing below $8,560 for the first time in more than a week. London aluminum rebounded after two consecutive gains, approaching the eight-month high set on Wednesday. London zinc, which closed roughly flat on Thursday, rose to nearly an eight-month high. London lead, which closed flat on Thursday, fell from the three-week high set on Wednesday. London nickel fell for two consecutive days, reaching a low for the week, while London tin, which rose for two consecutive days, bid farewell to the high since the end of September. London cobalt closed flat.

In this week, which only had three trading days, base metals failed to collectively rise. London aluminum and London zinc rose by over 2%, marking three consecutive weeks of gains. London lead, London nickel, and London tin, which fell last week, rose by about 0.2%, 0.6%, and over 2% respectively. London copper fell by nearly 0.2% after two consecutive weeks of gains. In December, most of these metals saw cumulative gains. London copper rose by over 1%, London zinc rose by over 7%, London aluminum, which had experienced two months of consecutive declines, and London tin, which had fallen in November, rebounded by nearly 9% and over 9% respectively. London nickel fell by nearly 0.3%, marking its fifth consecutive month of decline, while London lead, which had experienced two months of consecutive declines, fell by over 2% in November. In the fourth quarter, London copper rose by over 3%, rebounding after two consecutive quarters of decline. London tin rose by over 6%, rebounding after three consecutive quarters of increase. London aluminum rose by over 1%, London zinc rose by 0.3%, both experiencing two consecutive quarters of increase. London nickel, on the other hand, fell by over 11%, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of decline. London lead, which rebounded in the third quarter, fell by nearly 5%.

For the full year of 2023, London nickel, which rebounded in 2022, fell by nearly 45%, while London cobalt fell by approximately 44%, performing the worst. London zinc fell by nearly 11%, London lead fell by nearly 10%, both experiencing two consecutive years of decline. However, London copper, London tin, and London aluminum, which fell in 2022, rebounded. London copper and London tin rose by over 2%, while London aluminum rose by nearly 0.3%.

New York gold futures remained in a downward trend for most of Friday, briefly turning positive during pre-European stock trading. Prior to the US stock market opening, it fell below $2068, refreshing the daily low. It fell by nearly 0.8% during the day. In the end, COMEX February gold futures closed down 0.56% at $2071.80 per ounce, continuing to fall from the closing record high of $2090 set on Wednesday.

During this period, gold rose by 0.13%, marking its third consecutive week of increase. In the 12 weeks since the outbreak of the Israel-Palestine conflict, it only experienced a cumulative decline in the week ending on December 8th, with a cumulative increase of approximately 0.71% in December, marking three consecutive months of increase. In the fourth quarter, gold futures rose by approximately 11%, ending the two-quarter decline. With the support of the rebound in the fourth quarter, gold has risen by approximately 13.45% in 2023, rebounding after two consecutive years of decline.

Among the five major commodities, gold, silver, copper, oil, and natural gas, natural gas performed the worst in 2023, while gold performed the best.

Among the five major commodities, gold, silver, copper, oil, and natural gas, natural gas performed the worst in 2023, while gold performed the best.