Wall Street closes out 2019 by adding to year's big gains


U.S. stocks gained Tuesday on the last day of trading in 2019, capping a year of huge gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite all rose by about 0.3 percent on Tuesday. The S&P 500 gained 28.9 percent in 2019. Adding dividends, the blue-chip index had a total return of 31.5 percent. The Nasdaq rose by 35.3 percent, boosted by increases of 48 percent by technology stocks.
The gains were the biggest for both indexes since 2013. The Dow gained 22.3 percent. All three of the main U.S. indexes posted a string of records in a year-end rally, as a "phase one" deal aiming to de-escalate the U.S.-China trade war lifted Wall Street's mood. The market is closed Wednesday for New Year's Day.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
August 20 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Wednesday's political cartoons include NATO leadership, Putin's views on mail-in voting, and Donald Trump's National Guard deployments
-
Jasveen Sangha and the ketamine 'Wild West' of Hollywood
In The Spotlight Arrest of the 'ketamine queen' accused of supplying Friends star Matthew Perry with deadly dose has turned spotlight on a showbiz drug problem
-
Confessions of a Brain Surgeon: an 'exceptional' documentary
The Week Recommends Retired neurosurgeon Henry Marsh reflects on his pioneering work with exquisitely 'raw honesty'
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages