At least one group of investors might be cheering for the Nasdaq Composite to finish with a down year: buyers of initial public offerings.
A look at U.S. IPO returns from 1999 to 2015 show that the best IPO outcomes for investors have come in years after an annual decline for the Nasdaq.
The best year was 2012, coming after 2011′s 2% Nasdaq decline, in which more than 65% of IPOs produced positive returns, according to Dealogic and Factset data. The worst was 2000, following Nasdaq’s 44% gain, in which only about 20% of IPOs produced positive gains.