US shares ended a record-setting year on Tuesday, with all three major indexes posting annual gains of over 26% in 2013.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is up by 26.5% for the year, rose 72.37 points to 16,576.66 – its biggest annual gain in 18 years.
The S&P 500 also saw gains of close to 30% for the year, and closed out 2013 up 7.29 to 1,848.36.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished up by 22.39 to 4,176.59.
In 2013, a continued effort by the US Federal Reserve to help stimulate the economy by keeping interest rates low forced investors to turn to stocks as a way to turn a profit. This helped buoy stocks, in addition to an increasingly improving global economic outlook.
Gold, once the safe haven for investors worried about Europe’s debt crisis and the US’s fiscal wrangling, plunged, ending the year down 28.82% to $1,202.30 (£725), its lowest level in 32 years.
The year in stocks
2013 also saw the stock market debut of Twitter, the social messaging platform. Shares in the firm have risen by close to a third since their 7 November offering on the New York Stock Exchange, closing up over 5% to 63.65 on Tuesday.
Online television and movie streaming firm Netflix was by far the biggest gainer of 2013. Shares in the company rose 297% after it announced millions of new subscribers in the wake of its first forays into original programming.
Electronics retailer Best Buy also saw big gains in 2013, up 236% amidst an effort to boost profits by cutting costs and revamping some of its stores.
Mining firms Newmont Mining and Cliffs Natural Resources were the year’s biggest losers. Newmont saw its share price fall by 50%, while Cliffs shares were down by more than a third, amidst declining gold prices.
