Stocks ended modestly lower on New Year’s Eve, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.16% losing its grip on slight gains late in the year’s final session. The blue-chip index shed about 60 points Friday, or 0.2%, to end near 36,338, still enough to solidify a 1.1% weekly gain, 5.4% advance for December and a quarterly climb of 7.4%. For the year, the Dow rose a robust 18.7%. That compares with the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.26% gaining 26.9% on the year, after also ended Friday’s session lower by about 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite Index booked a 21.4% gain for 2021, while closing down 0.6% Friday.
