How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 12/11/2024

Wall Street got back to climbing after the latest update on inflation appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 gained 0.8% Wednesday to break a two-day losing streak and finished just short of its all-time high. Big Tech stocks led the way, which drove the Nasdaq composite up 1.8% to top the 20,000 level for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged with a dip of 0.2%. Stocks got a boost as expectations built that the Fed will deliver another cut to interest rates at its meeting next week.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 rose 49.28 points, or 0.8%, to 6,084.19.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 99.27 points, or 0.2%, to 44,148.56.

The Nasdaq composite rose 347.65 points, or 1.8%, to 20,034.89.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 11.38 points, or 0.5%, to 2,394.16.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 6.08 points, or 0.1%.

The Dow is down 493.96 points, or 1.1%.

The Nasdaq is up 175.12 points, or 0.9%.

The Russell 2000 is down 14.84 points, or 0.6%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 1,314.36 points, or 27.6%.

The Dow is up 6,459.02 points, or 17.1%.

The Nasdaq is up 5,023.54 points, or 33.5%.

The Russell 2000 is up 367.09 points, or 18.1%.

The Associated Press