U.S. Stocks Slip to Close Out Banner Year

S&P 500 closed at records 70 times this year, more than one-quarter of all trading days

U.S. stocks ticked lower on the last trading day of 2021, wrapping up a year of repeated records on Wall Street on low interest rates and the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average oscillated between small gains and losses as the New Year’s Eve trading session wore on before falling toward the end of the day. The S&P 500 fell 12.55 points, or 0.3%, to 4766.18, the Dow slid 59.78 points, or 0.2%, to 36338.30 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 96.59 points, or 0.6%, to 15644.97.