A look at 2014 in the business world
FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 19, 2014 file photo, Arthur Jiang, of Beijing, poses for a photograph in front of the New York Stock Exchange on the day of Alibaba's initial public offering in New York. Growing confidence was also evident in the number of companies looking to float their shares on the stock market. One of the biggest of all-time was Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, which raised around $25 billion. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
FILE - This Feb. 19, 2014 file photo shows WhatsApp and Facebook app icons on a smartphone in New York. One sign of the growing confidence in the US economy was an increase in corporate deals. One of the most high-profile was Facebookís $22 billion acquisition of the mobile-messaging application WhatsApp. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, July 31, 2014 file photo, an office worker looks over at a man sleeping inside the container he uses to collect cardboard for recycling, at the financial district in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Emerging economies have had a very volatile year in 2014. Argentina was one that made the headlines after it defaulted on its debt after a dispute with hedge funds. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 file photo, a man walks past a billboard displaying the future skyline, near a construction site in Beijing, China. For the Chinese economy, the worldís second-largest, itís been a year of flux. Though its slowdown may not be dramatic, it is one of the global economic concerns going into 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 file photo, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen listens during a meeting at the Federal Reserve in Washington. Yellen replaced Ben Bernanke in early 2014. Amid signs that the U.S. economy was growing strongly and unemployment was falling, she and her colleagues brought the Fedís bond-buying program to an end. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 file photo, traders David O'Day, left, and Christopher Fuchs, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The withdrawal of the Federal Reserve stimulus failed to dampen the mood on Wall Street. Both the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 hit a series of all-time highs in 2014 amid growing confidence over the state of the US recovery. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
LONDON (AP) — No one said the recovery from the global financial crisis would be easy and 2014 provided that in spades.
While the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, is showing clear signs that its recovery is self-sustaining, the picture elsewhere is far less rosy entering 2015.
Concerns remain over the Chinese economy, the world’s second-largest, while Japan, the No. 3, has fallen back into recession despite a raft of stimulus efforts. And in Europe, economic stagnation appears to be the new status quo despite the welcome news that Greece’s savage six-year recession is over.
In the U.S., the Federal Reserve has called time on its monetary stimulus after six years and has hinted that it could start raising interest rates in 2015 from near zero percent. As a result, the dollar was in the ascendant on foreign exchange markets and Wall Street investors grew increasingly optimistic over the economic outlook — the S&P 500 index hit a series of record highs.
Firms also appeared to be caught up in the growing optimism. Following years of retrenchment that saw companies accumulate cash reserves, U.S. companies are once again taking risks. There were a number of headline-grabbing deals in 2014, including Facebook’s $22 billion buyout of WhatsApp.
Elsewhere, the legacy of the global financial crisis remains, notably in Europe, where the European Central Bank is considering a larger, Fed-style stimulus to shore up the ailing economy of the 18-country eurozone and avoid a debilitating bout of deflation — falling prices can further weigh on growth.
Russia is one European economy that’s ending 2014 in far worse shape than how it started the year. Following a collapse in oil prices and sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in the Ukraine crisis, Russia is heading into recession and its currency, the ruble, has plunged.
For most of the rest of the world, the fall in oil prices to 5-year lows below $65 a barrel is an unexpected economic boon. Consumers are feeling the benefit at the pump almost immediately while businesses may have extra cash available to invest.
Many factors were behind the oil price decline, including the slowdown in growth in China. Supply factors played a role too, with production growing in countries likes Iraq and Syria.
Despite the boon from lower oil prices, developing economies had a volatile year. Many of their markets were roiled ahead of the Fed ending its stimulus — since much of the money created by the stimulus had been funneled by investors into high-yielding developing markets. That market turbulence is likely to persist next year, too.