Year of volatility ends at par for stocks

The stock market ended a tumultuous year right where it started.

In the end, despite big climbs and falls, unexpected blows and surprising triumphs, all the hullabaloo proved for naught. On Friday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 1,257.60. That's exactly 0.04 point below where it started the year.

"If you fell asleep January 1 and woke up today, you'd think nothing had happened," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank. "But it's been up and down all year. It's been crazy."

It was a year when U.S. companies were supposed to run out of ways to make big profits. But they didn't, and in fact generated more than ever. It was a year when the U.S. lost its prized Triple-A credit rating, which should have spooked bonds buyers. Instead they bought more of them and made Treasury bonds one of the best bets of 2011. It was a year when stocks caught fire, then collapsed to near bear-market lows.

Among stocks, there were some surprising winners. Scared investors who bought the most conservative and dullest of stocks -- utilities -- gained 15 percent this year, the biggest price rise of the 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500. Other winning groups were consumer staples, up 11 percent, and health care companies, 10 percent.

Other market curiosities. Bad year, great quarter. Despite disappointing returns in 2011, the last three months of 2011 were impressive, which could bode well for the new year. The S&P 500 rose 11 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average, which includes 30 big stocks, climbed 1,344 points, or 12 percent. That was the largest quarterly point gain in its history. The Dow closed up 5.5 percent for the year. The Nasdaq was down 1.8 percent for the year.

Best of the bad. U.S. stocks delivered little this year, but other markets did even worse, including ones in fast-growing economies. Brazil's Bovespa index fell 18 percent in 2011. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 20 percent. In Europe, many of the biggest markets ended down in 2011. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 5.6 percent, Germany's DAX 14.7 percent.

Buy American is back. A broad index of the Treasury market gained 9.6 percent, even though the Standard & Poor's rating agency stripped the U.S. of its Triple-A rating.

On Friday, the Dow finished down 69.48 points, or 0.57 percent, to close at 12,217.56. The S&P 500 was down 5.42, or 0.43 percent, to 1,257.60. The Nasdaq composite index was off 8.59, or 0.33 percent, to 2,605.15.

Markets will be closed Monday in observance of New Year's Day.