Wall Street finishes year with solid gains

From Reuters.com:

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as crude oil prices continued their descent, but the S&P closed out a third straight year of double-digit gains.

For the year, the Dow ended up 7.5 percent, notching its sixth straight annual gain, and the Nasdaq rose 13.4 percent.

The best-performing S&P component in 2014 was Southwest Airlines Co., up 124.6 percent, while Transocean Ltd., down 62.9 percent, was the worst.

Equities lost steam heading into the New Year after rallying nearly 6 percent over eight sessions, sparked by the U.S. Federal Reserve's commitment to be "patient" about raising interest rates and positive economic data.

Still, the S&P 500 has risen in seven of the past ten sessions, hitting a series of intraday and closing records, and finished the year up 11.4 percent...
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Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/31/us-markets-stocks-usa-idUSKBN0K90P420141231