Andrew Bell

Anchor, Reporter

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Enough already with the kvetching. The world has been through plenty worse years.

“Think 2016 was bad? 2017 will be worse,” moans a web site headline at one of our Canadian broadcasting rivals.

BOMBARDIER'S BOUNCE

But as the year winds down, there are plenty of good-news stories out there, including a stock market comeback for  Bombardier (BBDb.TO). The global transportation giant’s shares have jumped 60 per cent in 2016 to trade at $2.14.

The stock fell as low as 72 cents in February as analysts and portfolio managers warned the company could be forced into bankruptcy protection. But big contract wins for its CSeries aircraft and a $2.5-billion cash lifeline from Quebec have helped to convince the market that the company has a shot.

And today, there’s news of a deal to sell up to 300 trains to Austria for US$1.9 billion at list prices.

2016 BY THE NUMBERS

Want more glad tidings? Tumblr user helthehatter has been cheering folks by creating a list of good things that have happened in 2016,

Researchers said the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved since 1990.  

The U.S. imprisonment rate has been declining for six years. Since the start of the century, imprisonment of African-American women has dropped 47 per cent (but the rate among white women has risen 56 per cent.)

Teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. hit another record low. 

And America has made progress in resurrecting its depleted fisheries. 

ETF WATCH

Exchange-traded funds, with their low costs and clear holdings, have been a blessing for investors in recent years. The New York Stock Exchange is the top U.S. marketplace for ETFs but rivals such as Nasdaq have been stealing its listings.

“New York can kind of rationalize and say, OK, it’s only a few ETF listings,” Larry Tabb, founder consulting firm Tabb Group, told The Wall Sstreet Journal. “But by the time the big players turn around, the innovators have breached the castle walls.”

Tabb joins us on Business Day at 10:50 a.m. ET.

A BULL'S VIEW

And at 2:30 p.m. ET, we get an outlook for 2017 from Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist with Raymond James.

He’s bullish on stocks: “The biggest message as we prepare to enter 2017, is that the equity markets are transitioning from an interest rate driven bull market to an earnings driven bull market.”

So lose the long face.