Wall Street ends worst year since 2008 financial crisis

Wall Street’s moderate gains in New Year’s Eve trading were nowhere near enough to avert the worst year for American stocks since the financial crisis.

The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.6 percent in 2018, its first annual drop since a 2.2 percent decrease in 2015 but a mere fraction of the 34 percent slide in 2008. The broader S&P 500 tumbled 6.2 percent, its first year in the red since a 0.7 percent slip in 2015, while the Nasdaq is down 3.9 percent. Both indexes lost more than a third of their value in 2008.