How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers

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NEW YORK (AP) – What a great year 2024 has been for investors.

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US stocks rose sharply and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy continued to grow and the Federal Reserve began to cut interest rates.

The year featured many typical winners, such as Big Tech, which grew significantly as their stock prices continued to rise. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin, gold and other investments also fared well.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All from December 20.

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1998

Remember when President Bill Clinton was impeached or when baseball’s Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? It was the last time the US stock market closed a second straight year with a jump of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index is up 24.3% so far this year, excluding dividends, following last year’s rise of 24.2%.

57

It’s the all-time high the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first one came early, on Jan. 19, where the index covers a two-year rebound from a recession caused by high inflation and concerns that higher interest rates set up by the Federal Reserve to combat them will trigger a recession. But the index was flat throughout the year, setting a record in every month except April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on December 6.

3

The number of times the Federal Reserve has lowered its key interest rate this year is from a dozen years, providing some relief to the economy. Anticipation of those cuts, along with hopes for more in 2025, was a big reason why the US stock market has been so successful this year. The 1 percentage point cut, however, is still short of the 1.5 percentage points most retailers were forecasting for 2024 at the start of the year. The Fed disappointed investors in December when it said it might cut rates just twice in 2025, fewer than it had previously expected.

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1,508

How many points did the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise the day after Election Day, as investors bet on what Donald Trump’s return to the White House would mean for the economy and the world. The widely followed S&P 500 rose 2.5% in its best day in nearly two years. Apart from bitcoin, banking stocks and small winners are also seen as big winners. The inflation has eased amid concerns that Trump’s policies could increase inflation.

$100,000

Bitcoin’s level has soared to a record high of over $108,000 this past month. It has been rising as interest rates have fallen, and has increased significantly following Trump’s election. He has turned into a fan of crypto, and named a former regulator seen as friendly to digital currencies as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing someone who critics say 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 up for the year, as it again hit records and had a strong run like US stocks. Wars around the world have helped drive demand for investments that are seen as safe, such as gold. It also benefited from the Fed’s reduction in interest rates. When bonds pay less interest, they draw fewer buyers away from gold, which pays investors nothing.

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$420

It’s Elon Musk’s favorite number, and it’s also the threshold that Tesla’s stock price surpassed in December as it set a record. The number has a long history among marijuana devotees, and Musk said in 2018 that he received funding to take Tesla private for $420 per share. Tesla has soared this year, rising from below $250 at the start, in part because of expectations that Musk’s close relationship with Trump could benefit the company.

$91.2 billion

That’s how much money Nvidia made in the nine months to Oct. 27, showing that the artificial intelligence frenzy is generating mountains of cash. Nvidia’s chips are driving the move to AI, and revenue in the past nine months has risen from less than $39 billion a year ago. Such growth has boosted Nvidia’s value to more than three billion dollars.

74%

GameStop’s earnings on May 13 after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” came online for the first time in three years to support the video game retailer’s stock, helping it rocket to unimaginable heights during the “stock frenzy” of 2021. Many other meme stocks also jumped following his May post on social media platform X, including AMC Entertainment. Gill later revealed a large stake in online pet products retailer Chewy, but sold all of his stock in late October.

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1.6%, 3.0% and 3.1%

That’s how the US economy grew, at annualized rates, in each of the first three quarters of this year. Such growth exceeded the expectations of many pessimists when inflation rose to 9% in the summer of 2022. The fear was that the drug prescribed by the Fed to beat high inflation – high interest rates – would cause a recession. Families at the lower end of the income spectrum are especially hurting now, as they contend with prices that remain. But the overall economy remains remarkably strong.

20.1%

This is the vacancy rate for US office buildings – the highest ever – during the first three quarters of 2024, according to data from Moody’s. The fact that the rate remained strong for most of the year was a big plus for office building owners, as it slightly increased from 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2019. of remote work.

3.73 million

That’s the number of previously occupied homes sold nationally during the first 11 months of 2024. Sales would have to rise 20% year-over-year in December for 2024 home sales to match the 4.09 million existing homes sold in 2023, about 30. – this year. The US housing market has been in a sell-off crisis since 2022, when mortgage rates began to rise from pandemic-era lows. A shortage of homes for sale and high mortgage rates have discouraged many homebuyers.

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