Stock market today: Stocks slip on the final trading day of a surprisingly good year on Wall Street | Business

NEW YORK (`) — Stocks fell on the final day of trading for 2023, in a surprisingly strong year of gains on Wall Street.

But according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, the so-called “Magnificent 7” companies – Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla – accounted for about two-thirds of the S&P 500's gains this year. Nvidia leads the group with an increase of around 240%.

The S&P 500 index fell 0.3% on Friday, just below the all-time high it reached in January 2022. It is up 24.2% for the year after losing 19% in 2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 60 points, or 0.2%, to 37,651, a day after hitting another record. It is up more than 13% for the year after falling 8.8% last year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.5% as of 2:12 p.m. Eastern time and is up 43% for the year, largely thanks to the movement of these blue-chip companies. The index fell 33% in 2022.

Smaller company stocks staged a late rally but recovered most of their losses from last year. The Russell 2000 index is up 15.5% in 2023 after falling 21.6% in 2022.

The rally that began in November helped extend market gains beyond the big tech companies. It was a big psychological shift for investors, said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial.

“Investors were able to accept the fact that the market would end the year in positive territory,” Krosby said. “Above all, the broad participation in the market particularly reinforced and confirmed the price gains of the shares of smaller companies.”

Stocks on European markets rose slightly on Friday, also after a year of gains. The benchmark indices in France and Germany rose by double digits, while the British index rose by almost 4%.

Asian markets witnessed a mixed session for most markets on the last trading day of the year. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.2% to 33,464.17. It rose 27% in 2023, its best year in a decade, as Japan's central bank inched toward ending its long-standing ultra-loose monetary policy after inflation finally exceeded its target of around 2%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed flat, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7%. The Shanghai index lost about 3% this year and the Hang Seng fell almost 14%. Weakness in the real estate sector and global demand for Chinese exports, as well as high debt levels and wavering consumer confidence, have weighed on the country's economy and stock market.

All major indexes held on to modest weekly gains, with the S&P 500 on track for a rare ninth straight week of gains.

Investors in the US began the year expecting inflation to ease further as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. The trade-off would be a weaker economy and possibly a recession. But while inflation has fallen to around 3%, the economy is doing well thanks to solid consumer spending and a healthy job market.

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