A soft finish to 2024 still left stocks with a second straight stellar year. The S&P 500 logged a 23.3% gain, which follows a 24% rise in 2023. The combined gains of more than 53% was the largest two-year percentage jump for the index since year-end 1998,

Wall Street strategists see further gains for the S&P 500 in 2025 as a broadening of earnings growth and a resilient US economy continue to drive the bull market rally.

The Dow ended more than 400 points lower on Monday, clawing back some of the deepest losses from earlier in the day.

The S&P 500 posted back-to-back annual gains of more than 20 percent for the first time since the late 1990s. Analysts expect stocks to continue rising in 2025.

U.S. stocks closed broadly lower Monday as a banner year on Wall Street looked set to finish on a sour note. The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, its third straight decline. Roughly 90% of stocks within the index lost ground.

Wall Street was on track to open with small gains Tuesday, the final day of trading in what's been a banner year for U.S. markets. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each rose about 0.

Stock futures are higher in the final trading day of 2024, as Wall Street looks to close another blockbuster year. All three major benchmarks are on track for their second consecutive annual gains, with the S&P 500 heading for its second-straight year of adding 20% or more.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 gave up an early gain to finish down 0.4%. The benchmark index, which set 57 record highs in 2024, racked up a 23.3% gain for the year. This was its second straight year with a gain of more than 20%. The last time the index had as big a back-to-back annual gain was 1998.