U.S. Stocks Are Little Changed After Indexes Rally to Records

Bloomberg, (28/12)  -- U.S. stocks were little changed, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 trimming a weekly gain, after benchmark indexes rallied to all-time highs yesterday amid optimism over the economic recovery.

The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent to 1,841.46 at 4 p.m in New York. The gauge added 1.3 percent in the holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 has advanced 29 percent in 2013, putting it on course for its biggest annual rally since 1997. The equities benchmark has gained 2 percent so far this month. December has been the second-best month for U.S. equity returns, according to data compiled by Bloomberg that starts in 1928. The average gain for the month is 1.5 percent, more than twice the overall monthly mean of 0.6 percent. The last December retreat for the S&P 500 was in 2007. The Federal Reserve, which has made employment creation a determinant factor of its monetary stimulus, said on Dec. 18 that it will reduce the pace of bond buying amid faster-than-estimated economic growth. Three rounds of stimulus, known as quantitative easing, have sent the S&P 500 as much as up 172 percent from a 12-year low in 2009.