Wall Street closes lower after bumper year
A late PS: The three major U.S. stock indices closed in negative territory tonight.
The S&P 500 lost 25 points, or 0.4%, to end at 5,881 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.90%.
For 2024, the Nasdaq surged nearly 30%, while the bellwether S&P 500 notched more than a 23% gain, marking the index’s best two-year run since 1997-1998.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped slightly, to finish at 42,544.22 points, meaning it gained almost 13% during the year.
With a blockbuster 2024, the overall U.S. stock index wrapped up its best consecutive years since 1997 and 1998, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
— John Digles (@JohnDigles) December 31, 2024
That means a major boost to retirement savings like 401(k). pic.twitter.com/BNX6lrV2QH
Closing post
Time to wrap up, for the last time this year.
The UK’s blue-chip stock index has recorded its strongest annual gain since 2021, despite lagging behind Wall Street over the past year.
The FTSE 100 index, which tracks the largest companies listed in London, posted a rise of 5.7% for 2024.
Having begun the year at 7,733 points, the FTSE closed 440 points higher at 8,173 points today.
That was its fourth year of gains in a row, after rising 14.3% in 2021, 0.9% in 2022 and 3.8% in 2023, which came in the wake of a 14.3% plunge in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic rocked markets.
But London stocks have lagged behind New York, where the S&P 500 index gained over 23% this year.
Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are set to end on New Year’s Day, ending Moscow’s long dominance of supply in the European gas market.
Russia’s oldest gas export route to Europe - a pipeline dating back to Soviet days - was set to shut at the end of 2024, as a five-year transit deal between Russia and Ukraine expires. Data from Ukraine’s gas transit operator showed on Tuesday that Russia had not requested any gas flows for January 1st.
China’s economy is on course to expand by 5% in 2025, according to its president, Xi Jinping, meeting official growth targets and rebutting concerns that Donald Trump’s incoming US administration will harm Beijing’s prospects in the new year.
A US government fund to compensate people swindled by Bernie Madoff is making its final round of payments, taking the total paid from the fund to the late fraudster’s victims to $4.3bn (£3.4bn).
The boss of Britain’s biggest building society has warned that working from home could harm women’s careers because they are less likely to come into the office than their male colleagues.
Passengers on the London to Glasgow main line face disruption to services in the coming days because of strikes by train managers at Avanti West Coast.
Updated
