The S&P 500 finished with a gain of 26.9% for the year, or a total return of 28.7%, including dividends.
A wave of consumer demand fueled by the reopening of economies pumped up corporate profits more than expected in 2021, which helped keep investors in a buying mood.
There was also intense interest in so-called “meme stocks,” in which large groups of individual investors bought up shares of beaten-down companies like GameStop and AMC Entertainment, causing institutional investors like hedge funds to lose billions.
Along the way, the S&P 500 set 70 all-time highs, its most recent one on Wednesday.
“Although there are a lot of things that people were nervous about all year and continue to be nervous about as we head to ’22, at the end of the day the U.S.
The major indexes spent much of the day flipping between small gains and losses.