Stocks ended a calm day of trading Friday with small losses, even as Wall Street closed the books on another successful year.

The S&P 500 concluded the year up 26.9%, for a total return of 28.7%, including dividends. That is roughly the same amount that the benchmark index earned in 2019. In 2021, the Nasdaq composite rose 21.4%, led by Big Tech firms. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.7%, led by Home Depot and Microsoft.

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A surge in consumer demand spurred by economic recovery boosted business earnings more than projected in 2021, helping to maintain investors in a buying mood. The Federal Reserve, which maintained its key short-term interest rate at zero all year, also helped Wall Street. This contributed to low company borrowing rates and high stock values. Investors anticipate that the Fed will begin raising interest rates next year.

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Along the way, the S&P 500 reached 70 all-time highs, the most recent of which occurred on Wednesday. That is the newest highs for the index in the post-World War II era since it reached 77 in 1954.

Despite several hurdles, such as growing prices, global supply chain interruptions, and outbreaks of highly infectious variants of the COVID-19 virus, the market continued to achieve new highs.

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Trading was extremely quiet on Friday, with the majority of Wall Street on vacation and many fund managers have already closed out their positions for 2021.

The major indices spent most of the day alternating between tiny gains and losses. The S&P 500 index dropped 12.55 points, or 0.3%, to 4,766.18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.78 points, or 0.2%, to 36,338.30. The Nasdaq dropped 96.59 points, or 0.6%, to 15,644.97.

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The smaller-company Russell 2000 index fell 3.48 points, or 0.2%, to 2,245.31. The index finished the year up 13.7%.

The 10-year Treasury note yield held steady at 1.51% when the bond market closed at 2:00 p.m. Eastern ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday.