NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market shot higher on Monday even as the “fiscal cliff” neared. By the time trading ended, Republicans and Democrats still hadn’t reached a budget compromise — but investors were betting that they would.

It was a dramatic day on what turned out to be a strong year for stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.4 percent for the year, after finishing flat in 2011. It was the index’s best year since 2009, and it came despite overhanging problems like Europe’s debt crisis and anemic U.S. growth, bringing U.S. indexes close to their highs reached before the 2008 financial crisis.