Weak Final Day Wraps Up Strong Year

Wall Street ended 2021 on a weak note Friday but still managed to end the year with big gains. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%. It wound up with a yearly gain of 26.9%, the AP reports, nearly as big as its gain two years ago—just before the pandemic set in. The S&P 500 notched its latest record high on Wednesday, its 70th of the year. Company profits came in strong this year as the economy reopened, but the fast-spreading omicron variant and the looming end of the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies are overhangs for investors going into the new year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 60 points Friday, or 0.2%, to end near 36,338, per MarketWatch. For the year, the Dow was up 18.7%. The Nasdaq posted a 21.4% gain for 2021 as it closed off 0.6% on Friday. (More stock market stories.)