Stock market today: Stocks drift on the final trading day of a surprisingly good year on Wall Street

Stocks are drifting on the final trading day of a year of surprisingly robust gains for Wall Street. The benchmark S&P 500 index is sitting just below the all-time high Friday and is up 24.6% for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit another record Thursday and is up more than 13% in 2023. The Nasdaq is up 44% for the year, driven by gains in big technology companies, including Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft. Treasury yields edged higher and crude oil prices rose.