Stock market today: Stocks slide as Wall Street’s year of 20% gains ends on a quiet note
US stocks slipped Tuesday, closing 2024 with an uncharacteristic down note after a roaring year of trading.
The S&P 500 (
^GSPC
) fell 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (
^DJI
) dropped just below the flatline, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (
^IXIC
) led the losses at 0.9%.
Despite the sour final stretch, the benchmark S&P 500 closed 2024 up 23%, according to Yahoo Finance data. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained almost 30%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a more modest 13% win.
The S&P’s annual gain roughly matches 2023’s performance, logging the highest consecutive back-to-back annual gain in nearly 30 years.
The major indexes posted big wins in 2024, a year that was marked by a continued surge in the artificial intelligence trade —
led by the “Magnificent Seven”
stocks — even as the
bull rally broadened across the board
. The single biggest winner in the S&P was Palantir (
PLTR
), with a nearly 350% gain for the year, while the biggest loser was Walgreens Boots Alliance (
WBA
) which gave up 64% of its value.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve made its first interest rate cut in four years, and President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House drove stocks higher in the last two months. (
Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer and Alexandra Canal
have a great rundown of the year’s big themes in charts.)
In commodities, gold (
GC=F
) increased 28% this year, logging its biggest yearly gain since 2010. And in cryptocurrencies, bitcoin (
BTC-USD
) has rallied over 100% this year, though it has
pulled back from the $100,000 level it breached earlier this month
.
But overall, the good times have stalled in the last week, as markets have given up some of their big gains — all the more uncharacteristic considering the typical “Santa Claus” rally that marks the end of the year.
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