The Year in Preview

With corporate earnings under pressure, turmoil in Asian markets and deflation on the horizon, nobody expects a fourth straight year of 20%-plus increases in the blue-chip stock indexes. But with baby boomers still trying to pile up retirement assets, the flow of money into brokerages and mutual fund companies isn’t about to dry up, even if the mix of investments tilts away from stocks toward bonds or money market funds. The consolidation wave, which has seen commercial banks snap up brokerages and big securities firms snap up smaller ones, is also likely to keep rolling.