Stocks slide at the end of the S&P 500’s best performance since the 1990s: Markets wrap

(Bloomberg) — A series of volatile sessions for U.S. stocks extended into the last day of 2024, marking an inauspicious end to a stellar year for North American equity investors.

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The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 fell for a fourth straight session in a year-end decline that shaved more than $1 trillion off large market caps. Still, the losses remain just a blip in a rally that has lifted the S&P 500 more than 50% since the start of 2023, the best two-year gain since the late 1990s.

While yields remained higher across maturities on Tuesday, a broad measure of Treasuries posted annual gains, albeit smaller than in 2023. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index had its best year in nearly a decade.

It was a year in which stocks, especially US technology stocks, outperformed almost every other asset class. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 23% in 2024, rising for the fifth time in six years, in an advance that added $10 trillion to the values ​​of US stocks. The MSCI World Index rose 16%.

In fixed income, the Vanguard Total Bond exchange-traded fund finished with gains of 1.5% including dividends, while the Bloomberg Commodity Index was essentially unchanged. An ETF that tracks a multi-asset portfolio that includes stocks, bonds and commodities, the RPAR Risk Parity ETF, was little changed after falling 6% in December.

Even as the US economy advances, multi-asset investors head into 2025 facing a host of challenges, the first of which is inflation and the Fed’s response to it – especially after Chairman Jerome Powell indicated there would be fewer interest rate cuts in the future. . Another question is how President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-growth policies will affect consumer prices and federal finances.

Among individual commodities, gold had its best year since 2010. Oil rose in weak holiday trading to close flat in 2024 as the market prepares for a global surplus next year. Cocoa’s 178% annual gain was driven by market volatility and concerns about supply.

European natural gas prices rose to the highest level since last November in anticipation of the cessation of Russian flows through Ukraine on the first day of the new year.

European trading was quiet in the final session of the year, with many markets closed on New Year’s Eve and short sessions in London and Paris. In Asia, trading was also weak as many regional markets including South Korea’s were closed for a public holiday. Japanese markets are closed until January 6th. Shares fell in Australia and mainland China, with shares steady in Hong Kong.

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