2015 market winners, losers: Tech soars, old guard stumbles

New media companies like Netflix, which rose 138 percent to notch the biggest gain in the S&P 500, became more valuable than established media companies like CBS.

The Nasdaq composite, with its heavy concentration of technology companies, is up a respectable 6.1 percent.

E-commerce giant Amazon celebrated its 20th anniversary with results that sent investors into a buying frenzy.

The rest of the top ten winners in the index were a mix of companies representing several industries, including the video graphics chip maker NVIDIA, the payments processor Total System Services, the website domain name company VeriSign, and Spam maker Hormel Foods.

First Solar also made the top 10, getting a major boost when Congress extended tax breaks for solar installations in December.

The rout in crude oil prices that began in mid-2014 deepened in 2015, pulling down the value of oil company shares and the performance of the overall stock market.

All this pain for energy companies is good for consumers, who are now enjoying low prices for gasoline and shrinking heating bills.

— Mining company Freeport-McMoRan fell 71 percent, hurt by slowing economic growth in China that reduced demand for raw materials.