A soft finish to 2024 still left stocks with a second straight stellar year. The S&P 500 logged a 23.3% gain, which follows a 24% rise in 2023. The combined gains of more than 53% was the largest two-year percentage jump for the index since year-end 1998,

U.S. stock indexes are starting 2025 with gains, putting Wall Street on track to break a four-day losing streak that dimmed the end of its stellar 2024. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% at the open of trading Thursday following its longest losing streak since early September.

U.S. stocks on Thursday experienced a choppy first trading session of 2025, in which they initially jumped, then seesawed and finally slipped into negative territory. Wall Street is attempting to rebound after closing out 2024 on a four-day losing streak.

Stock indexes closed mostly lower on Wall Street on the final day of another record-setting year. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% Tuesday, but still managed to rack up a gain of 23.3% for the year, its second straight year with gains of more than 20%.