Dow Gains for Second Year in a Row

It was a mellow end to a tumultuous but positive year for the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose slightly, by .07 percent, to end 11 percent higher than at the beginning of 2010. Had it closed just a little bit higher, it would have ended 2010 at the highest point since August 2008. Caterpillar was the Dow’s best performer; Hewlett-Packard its worst. The Nasdaq Composite fell .38 percent—though it, too, increased this year, by 17 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 declined .02 percent Friday, but finished 13 percent higher for the year. The day marks the end of a rollercoaster year, which saw the “flash crash” and the bailouts of Greece and Ireland. Lawrence Creatura, manager of the Federated Clover Small Value Fund, compared it to a long road trip: “It wasn't always comfortable, but the destination was worth it.”