2015 Market Winners, Losers: Tech Soars, Old Guard Stumbles

In a flat year overall for stocks, there was still plenty of excitement to be enjoyed—or endured—by 2015’s biggest winners and losers.
2015 Market Winners, Losers: Tech Soars, Old Guard Stumbles
The New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 24, 2015. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
The Associated Press
Updated:

NEW YORK—In a flat year overall for stocks, there was still plenty of excitement to be enjoyed—or endured—by 2015’s biggest winners and losers.

It was a year to make old guard companies shudder.

New media companies like Netflix, which rose 142 percent to notch the biggest gain in the S&P 500, became more valuable than established media companies like CBS. Amazon eviscerated traditional retailers like Macy’s and Walmart. And energy and materials companies were flattened by weak demand at a time of abundant supplies. The biggest loser was Chesapeake Energy, down almost 80 percent in 2015.

The Dow Jones industrial average, dominated by long-established companies in traditional industries, is down 1.2 percent for the year through Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite, with its heavy concentration of technology companies, is up a respectable 6.5 percent.

Here are the stories behind some of the stock markets biggest winners and losers for 2015.

The logo of Netflix is displayed at the headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., on April 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The logo of Netflix is displayed at the headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., on April 22, 2011. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma