How local stocks did in 2018
The market value of the stock-traded companies in the Chattanooga area plunged during 2018 by more than $18 billion* Miller Industries rose 4.7 percent to $27 per share* Covenant Transport declined 33.2 percent to $19.20 per share* Unum Group dropped 46.5 percent to $29.38 per share* Astec Industries fell by 48.4 percent to $30.19 per share* Mohawk Industries declined by 57.4 percent to $166.96 per share* CBL Properties fell by 66.1 percent to $1.92 per share* U.S. Xpress Enterprises dropped 66.4 percent from its first day closing in June to $5.61 per share** Dixie Group plunged 81.7 percent to below 71 cents per share* U.S. Xpress became a publicly traded company in June and closed its first day of trading at $16.68Source: NYSE, Nasdaq exchanges comparing Monday’s close with the 2017 close a year earlier.
The market value of Chattanooga’s publicly traded companies collectively plunged by nearly $18.9 billion during 2018, erasing more than half the stock market value for half of the local stock-traded firms and a third or more for most of the rest in the past 12 months.
A volatile year with higher interest rates and a slowdown in housing starts and brick-and-mortar retail stores proved costly for investors in Chattanooga-based companies with publicly traded stock.
After rising amid the bull market for most of the past eight years, Chattanooga companies suffered their worst total dollar-volume losses in history during 2018.
Only one of the eight publicly traded companies in the Chattanooga area gained in the market for all of 2018. Miller Industries, the Ooltewah-based tow truck carrier, rose a modest 4.7 percent in 2018 after declining slightly the previous year. Miller still remains less than 27 percent of its peak value reached in 1997.