Summary
The year 2024 was another great one for the stock market, although many stocks, industries, sectors, and indices limped into the finish. The mega-cap indices stole the show again, with the S&P 100 and Nasdaq leading, jumping 29%. The Nasdaq 100 added 25% and the S&P 500 popped 23%. After that, gains were muted, with the NYSE Composite and DJIA rising 13%, the S&P 400 up 12%, the Russell 2000 and the S&P 500 Equal Weight up 11%, and the S&P Small Cap 600 up 7%. Sector leadership was provided by Communication Services, spiking 35% due to trillion-dollar heavyweights GOOGL, with a 36% rise, and META, with a 66% surge. The Financial sector added 31% with a strong second half that saw broad strength from asset managers, major banks, property/casualty insurance, specialty finance, consumer finance, and investment services. Consumer Discretionary gained 27% on two other trillion-dollar players, as TSLA skyrocketed 63%, with almost all of that coming after the election, and AMZN popping 44%. Utilities, which were leading at one point, finished up 23%, with massive gains from CEG (up 93%), VST (262%), and PEG (43%). The gains were fueled by the massive future power needs for Information Technolo