A Look at the First Quarter

Today marks the last trading day of the first quarter of 2015. We have had a bit of a roller coaster ride in the markets the past three months, but mostly we just ended up where we started. Here's how the major indexes did, pending today's outcome:

• The S&P 500 peaked in early March, when it was up 2.8 percent on the year, but now shows an increase of just 1.3 percent so far in 2015.
• Similarly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.6 percent as of March 2, but is now up just 0.9 percent for the year.
• The Nasdaq was briefly up more than 6 percent, as of March 20, and is now up 4.5 percent on the year.