Trader Joel Luccese, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Index of the performance of Chattanooga area companies’ stocks.If 2013 was a year where the stock market went straight up, 2014 has started off as a year where the stock market moves sideways.
There was plenty for investors to worry about in the first three months of the year, from tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine and the winter storms that froze the U.S. economy in January and February. As a result, investors focused their attention on buying and holding “safe” investments, such as bonds, dividend-paying stocks, and gold.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.3 percent in the first three months of 2013. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.7 percent so far this year, and the Nasdaq composite is up 0.5 percent.
Investing in Chattanooga still paid off for most investors. Among the nine publicly traded companies in the Chattanooga area, six rose in value, while shares fell for only three.
Two local companies hard hit during the Great Recession and its aftermath were the biggest gainers among Chattanooga area firms. The Dixie Group, the Chattanooga-based carpet maker rebounding from the housing slump, recorded a 24.2 percent gain in its stock price in the first quarter. Shares of Covenant Transport, the Chattanooga-based trucking firm, rose nearly as much, 23 percent, in the first three months of 2014.