— This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on January 2, Tuesday.
As today marks the first trading day for the new year, it's time for investors to say goodbye to 2017, so here's one last look at what was hot.
Among major stock markets, U.S. stocks were on a first-class ride into record territory in 2017.
The Dow had a yearly return of 25.1 percent, S&P had 19.4%, and Nasdaq had 28.2%, mostly boosted by tech stocks.
For the entire year, S&P 500 broke the record, with total returns in the green for 12 consecutive months. Till now, its returns for the past 14 months have been in the positive territory.
At the same time, the market had been very calm in 2017, with the volatility index VIX closing averagely at 11.1 - the lowest since 1986, when the index was created.
Now the question is - for 2018, can the bull last?
A lot of analysts are relatively cautious at this stage, saying that they remain doubtful that 2018 will be as good as 2017. Vincent Au, Portfolio Manager at Gondor Capital Management, says that earnings, inflation, world central bank policies, politics and an unknown event that is not on everyones standard list of risks, will affect 2018 markets.
[VINCENT AU, Gondor Capital Management Portfolio Manager] "I can get concerned about what I cant control. In fact, when you look on the social media website, you look at the news websites, on any given day, theres 15 stories about miller, about why Trump would be impeached and so on, and another 15 stories saying he'll win in 2020. So I just have to say now we focus to my task at hand."
The US market is not the only winner in 2017. European stocks were generally in the green as well.
The London FTSE 100 had a gain of 7.6% last year, DAX index gained 12.5%, CAC 40 had a return of 9.3% while th Ibex gained 7.4%.
Analysts say that with the ECB continues its bond buying program this year, rate hikes might not be on the agenda. Therefore, if economy keeps its strong pace for recovery, European stocks could be futhur fueled.
Now, for stock markets among the Asia-Pacific region, the Hong Kong Heng Seng index was an apparent winner, with a return of 36% in 2017. Besides, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines as well as India all enjoyed a yearly return of around 20%, and China as well as Australia were also both kept in the green.
CNBC's Qian Chen, reporting from Singapore.