Wall Street flat as it crosses finish line of tumultuous year
Wall Street was little changed in light trading on Friday, with investors taking a breather as they prepared to ring in the new year and close the books on 2021, marking the second year of recovery from a global pandemic.
All three major U.S. stock indexes are set for weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual gains, notching their biggest three-year advance since 1999.
The S&P 500 is on course for a 27% increase since the last trading day of 2020. Through Thursday, the benchmark index registered 70 record-high closes, or the second-most ever. Using Refinitiv data back to 1928, the most SPX record-high closes in a single year was 77 in 1995.
Companies, consumers and the broader economy largely thrived in 2021 as they felt their way forward amid a constantly shifting landscape including a tumultuous transfer of power marked by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Other factors included the…
