NEW YORK—Wall Street closed near record highs in light trading on Friday, the last trading day of 2021, marking the second year of recovery from a global pandemic. All three major U.S. stock indexes scored monthly, quarterly and annual gains, notching their biggest three-year advance since 1999. The S&P 500 gained 27 percent since the last trading day of 2020. Through Thursday, the benchmark index has registered 70 record-high closes, or the second-most ever. Using Refinitiv data back to 1928, the most record-high closes for the S&P 500 in a single year was 77 in 1995. The Dow added 18.73 percent for the year, and the Nasdaq gained 21.4 percent. Companies, consumers, and the broader economy largely thrived in 2021 as they felt their way forward amid a constantly shifting landscape including a tumultuous transfer of power marked by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Other factors included the “meme stock” …
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