What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors.
U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates.
The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn't just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin, gold and other investments also drove higher.
Here's a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All are as of Dec. 20.
1998
Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball's Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? That was the last time the U.S. stock market closed out a second straight year with a leap of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index has climbed 24.3% so far this year, not including dividends, following last year's spurt of 24.2%
57
The number of all-time highs the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first came early, on Jan. 19, when the index capped a two-year comeback from the swoon caused by high inflation and worries that high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to combat it would create a recession. But the index was methodical through the rest of the year, setting a record in every month outside of April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on Dec. 6.
3
The number of times the Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate this year from a two-decade high, offering some relief to the economy. Expectations for those cuts, along with hopes for more in 2025, were a big reason the U.S. stock market has been so successful this year. The 1 percentage point of cuts, though, is still short of the 1.5 percentage points that many traders were forecasting for 2024 at the start of the year. The Fed disappointed investors in December when it said it may cut rates just two more times in 2025, fewer than it had earlier expected.
1,508
That’s how many points the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by the day after Election Day, as investors made bets on what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the economy and the world. The more widely followed S&P 500 soared 2.5% for its best day in nearly two years. Aside from bitcoin, stocks of banks and smaller winners were also perceived to be big winners. The bump has since diminished amid worries that Trump’s policies could also send inflation higher.
$100,000
The level that bitcoin topped to set a record above $108,000 this past month. It's been climbing as interest rates come down, and it got a particularly big boost following Trump's election. He's turned around and become a fan of crypto, and he's named a former regulator who’s seen as friendly to digital currencies as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing someone who critics said was overly aggressive in his oversight. Bitcoin was below $17,000 just two years ago following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
26.7%
Gold's rise for the year has been impressive, with its value reaching records and having a strong run comparable to that of U.S. stocks. Wars around the world have driven demand for investments seen as safe, such as gold. Additionally, the Fed's cut to interest rates has benefited gold, as bonds paying less in interest pull away fewer potential buyers from gold, which pays investors nothing.$420
This is a favorite number of Elon Musk and one that Tesla's stock price passed in December as it set a record. The number has a long history among marijuana devotees, and Musk famously said in 2018 that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share. Tesla soared this year, up from less than $250 at the start, in part because of expectations that Musk's close relationship with Trump could benefit the company.$91.2 billion
Nvidia made this much revenue in the nine months through October 27, a testament to the artificial intelligence frenzy creating mountains of cash. Nvidia's chips are driving much of the move into AI, and its revenue through the last nine months catapulted from less than $39 billion the year before. Such growth has boosted Nvidia's worth to more than $3 trillion in total.74%
GameStop’s gain on May 13 was significant after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” appeared online for the first time in three years to support the video game retailer’s stock, which he helped rocket to unimaginable heights during the “meme stock craze” in 2021. Several other meme stocks also jumped following his post on social media, including AMC Entertainment.1.6%, 3.0%, and 3.1%
These are the annualized seasonally adjusted rates at which the U.S. economy grew in each of the three first quarters this year. Such growth blew past what many pessimists were expecting when inflation was topping 9% in the summer of 2022, as fears of a recession due to high interest rates subsided.20.1%
This is the vacancy rate for U.S. office buildings through the first three quarters of 2024, according to data from Moody's. The fact that the rate held steady for most of the year was something of a win for office building owners, given that it had marched up steadily from 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2019.3.73 million
That is the total number of previously occupied homes sold nationally through the first 11 months of 2024. Sales would have to surge 20% year-over-year in December for 2024's home sales to match the 4.09 million existing homes sold in 2023, a nearly 30-year low.The stock market defied expectations again, leaving many investors wondering what's next. Despite concerns over global economic uncertainty, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 350 points on Tuesday."I think we're in a sweet spot right now," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Lagardo. "The market is saying that despite all the noise out there, it still thinks the economy is going to be okay."However, not everyone agrees with Valliere's assessment. Some experts are warning of a potential downturn if trade tensions continue to escalate."The markets are always one or two steps ahead of the politicians," said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at R.W. Baird. "If we don't see some progress on trade, I think we're going to start to see some selling pressure."The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also rose significantly, with technology stocks leading the way.Stocks that have been under pressure in recent weeks, such as healthcare and financial services, saw significant gains.
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