US stocks fell on Friday, closing slightly lower on the last trading day of 2023, concluding a series of strong gains at the end of the year as investors awaited easing monetary policy next year.

The stock market witnessed remarkable momentum in the last months of the year, leading the three major indices to achieve monthly, quarterly and annual gains.

Over the course of the year, all three indicators recorded double-digit increases.

The S&P 500 index is still hovering within one percent below the record closing high of 4,796.56 points, which it recorded on January 3, 2022. Closing the index above that level would confirm that it has entered a bull market after touching the lowest level in a bear market in October. October 2022.

2023 was full of fluctuations, as it witnessed a US banking crisis in March, a jump in artificial intelligence stocks, turmoil surrounding oil supplies from the Middle East due to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and fears that the policy of the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) Extremism may throw the American economy into recession.

The decline in interest rates helped achieve a series of notable gains at the end of the year, which accelerated in December when the US Federal Reserve left the way open to lower interest rates in the United States in 2024 after a monetary tightening campaign that helped curb inflation towards its annual target of two percent.

According to preliminary data, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell by 10.19 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 4,773.16 points.

The Nasdaq Composite Index also lost 80.71 points, or 0.53 percent, to record 15,014.43 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 13.15 points, or 0.03 percent, to 37,696.95 points.

Over the course of the year, the technology, communications services and luxury goods sectors were the strongest performers among the eleven major sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, while energy and basic commodities were among the losing sectors.

Markets will be closed on the first Monday of January for the New Year holiday.