© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the flooring at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 15,2023 REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks closed decently lower on Friday, the last trading day of 2023, topping a robust year-end rally as financiers considered mucheasier financial policy in the year ahead.
The stock market hasactually seen exceptional upward momentum in the closing months of the year, powering all 3 significant indexes to regularmonthly, quarterly and yearly gains.
For the year, all 3 published double-digit development.
“On January of this year, 363 days ago, if I stated I believe the S&P is going to gain more than 20% in 2023, you would have put me into the alittle nutty classification,” stated Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York. “There’s definitely factor to be happy this year and there’s factor for optimism going into 2024.”
Even so, all 3 significant U.S. stock indexes ended the session lower.
“There’s truly no factor for today’s little sell-off,” Pursche included. “There’s no news that’s driving it.”
“I would ascribe it to last-minute portfolio modifications, earnings taking as we gointo the brand-new year, and possibly some rebalancing.”
Smallcaps came to life in the last months of the year, with the roaring back from a year-to-date loss of 7.1% as of late October to end the year with a 1