Market closes less than one point away from last year's end.
Mark Lennihan / AP Photo
The stock market may have dipped and soared this year but in the end it landed less than a point away from where it did in 2010. This is the smallest annual change ever. With economic volatility across the globe—from the Middle East to Japan and, of course, Europe, investors are relieved to be done with 2011—and grateful for the uneventful finish, which had the potential to be much worse.
