From Fortune:

The S&P 500 closed out 2023 with over 24% gains and the Dow finished near a record high. Stocks closed Friday with modest losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.56 points; The Nasdaq slipped 83.78 points, or 0.6%, to 15,011.35. The broader market’s gains were driven largely by the so-called Magnificent 7 companies, which accounted for about two-thirds of the gains in the S&P 500 this year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Most major indexes were able to erase their losses from a dismal 2022, marking a big psychological shift for investors. Shares in European markets and Asian markets had a mixed session. Investors in the U.S. came into the year expecting inflation to ease further as the Federal Reserve pushed interest rates higher. The stock market is now betting the Fed can achieve a “soft landing,” where the economy slows just enough to snuff out high inflation, but not so much that it falls into a recession. As a result, investors now expect the Fed to begin cutting rates as early as March. High interest rates and Treasury yields hurt prices for investments, so a continued reversal means more relief from that pressure. Bond market investors appeared headed for a third losing year in a row until things turned around starting in late October. U.S. and international crude oil prices remained stable on Friday. Despite production cuts from OPEC, the price of oil tumbled by more than 10% this year, defying predictions from some experts that it could cross $100 per barrel. Increased production in the U.S., now the top oil producer in the world, as well as Canada, Brazil, and Guyana offset the reduced output from OPEC.



Read more: Stocks fool nearly everyone in 2023 with the S&P soaring 24% and Nasdaq rising an even more formidable 43%