Markets in 2019: Investors cautiously optimistic, but a lot could go wrong

Here are the factors that will help determine whether that happens this year

After an unexpectedly bad year for the stock market, investors are looking for clues about what 2019 will bring.

The hope on Wall Street is that the underlying economy of the United States is sound, that the recent selling will burn itself out and that stocks will resume their record-setting climb. But the risk is that the plunge, the worst annual decline in a decade, could be the start of something more sinister.

The forces that pushed the S&P 500 down 6.2 per cent in 2018 are still in place. The economy is still doing well, but it does not appear to