Global Market Performance and Major Economic Events
The year 2015 was marked by significant volatility in global financial markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at 17,425.03 on December 31, a decline of roughly 2.2% for the year. The Federal Reserve ended a seven-year period of near-zero interest rates by raising its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.25% to 0.50% on December 16, a pivotal moment for global capital flows read more. The Shanghai Composite Index experienced a sharp downturn, falling approximately 15% in July amid a stock market crash that saw the Shanghai Stock Exchange halt trading multiple times using its circuit breaker mechanism.
Commodity prices also experienced a historic downturn, with the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil falling below $37 per barrel in late December, a decline of over 30% from the 2014 average. The International Monetary Fund revised its global growth forecast downward to 3.1% for 2015, citing the slowdown in China and the strengthening of the US dollar as primary headwinds source. The Greek debt crisis reached a critical juncture in the summer, with the country facing a liquidity crisis and a referendum on bailout terms that was ultimately rejected by the electorate.
Technology Sector Milestones and Corporate Developments
The technology sector saw transformative events in 2015, with Apple Inc. becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a market capitalization of $700 billion in November. The company reported its fiscal Q4 2015 results on October 27, announcing a 52% increase in quarterly revenue to $51.5 billion, driven largely by the iPhone 6s launch details. SpaceX achieved a historic milestone on December 21 when its Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed vertically at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, a breakthrough in reusable rocket technology that dramatically reduced the cost of access to space.
The electric vehicle market accelerated with Tesla Motors delivering a total of 50,580 vehicles in 2015, a 44% increase from the previous year, as the company scaled production of the Model S and Model X. The company's Gigafactory 1 in Nevada began construction in June, a $5 billion facility designed to produce lithium-ion battery cells at a scale intended to reduce battery costs by 30% source. In the realm of artificial intelligence, Google's DeepMind division announced the AlphaGo project, which would go on to defeat a professional human Go player the following year, marking a significant milestone in machine learning capabilities.
Regulatory Changes and Corporate Acquisitions
Regulatory landscapes shifted globally in 2015, with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation being formally adopted on April 14, establishing a comprehensive framework for data privacy that would take effect in May 2018. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules for the JOBS Act's Title IV, known as Regulation A+, which allowed smaller companies to raise up to $50 million in a mini-IPO through equity crowdfunding