Market Ends Decade With a Loss

Investors are sure to have mixed feelings about the celebration tonight after closing out their best year since 2003—but also finishing up the worst decade for the markets since the 1930s. Despite the incredible gains made this year, stocks dropped sharply on the final day of trading in 2009, as investors guessed that the strengthening economy would lead to a pullback in government stimulus money, but even so the Dow rose 18.8 percent on the year, Standard and Poor's index jumped 23.5 percent, and Nasdaq was up 43.9 percent over 2009. The recovery is even more impressive when counted from the market's bottoming-out last March: The Dow is up 59.3 percent from that period, and Nasdaq is up 78.9 percent.