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,

Wall Street strategists see further gains for the S&P 500 in 2025 as a broadening of earnings growth and a resilient US economy continue to drive the bull market rally.

The S&P 500 posted back-to-back annual gains of more than 20 percent for the first time since the late 1990s. Analysts expect stocks to continue rising in 2025.