U.S. stock indexes are falling Thursday to start 2025. The S&P 500 was down 0.7% in afternoon trading after rising as much as 0.9% earlier. It's coming off a four-day losing streak, its longest since early September,

A soft finish to 2024 still left stocks with a second straight stellar year. The S&P 500 logged a 23.3% gain, which follows a 24% rise in 2023. The combined gains of more than 53% was the largest two-year percentage jump for the index since year-end 1998,

Stocks opened higher in the final session of 2024 but quickly ran out of steam. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.07% at 42,544, the S&P 500 was off 0.4% to 5,881, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.

U.S. stock indexes are starting 2025 with gains, putting Wall Street on track to break a four-day losing streak that dimmed the end of its stellar 2024. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% at the open of trading Thursday following its longest losing streak since early September.