NEW YORK – Stocks ended a gut-wrenching 2010 quietly Friday. The major indexes were little changed, and trading volume was at one of its lowest levels of the year as many traders took the day off.

Despite investors’ concerns about the U.S. economy, the possibility of European countries defaulting on debt, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average both rose about 14 percent for the year, including dividends. The Nasdaq composite index, meanwhile, rose about 18 percent for the year after dividends.

At Friday’s close, the Dow gained 7.8 points, or 0.07 percent, to 11,577.51. The S&P 500 fell 0.24 to 1,257.64. The Nasdaq composite index dipped 10.11, or 0.4 percent, to 2,652.87.

The Dow finished the year at its highest level since August 2008, before the height of the financial crisis.

The S&P had its best December gain since 1991.

The numbers hide the fact that it was a rocky year. Stocks plunged in the spring after Greece required an emergency bailout to deal with its debt crisis. That raised concerns about debt issues in other European countries, including Ireland, which needed a bailout later in the year.

The May 6 “flash crash,” which sent the Dow down to a loss of nearly 1,000 points in less than a half-hour, also rattled investors. The Dow fell 14 percent from a high of 11,205.03 on April 26 to its low of 9,686.48 on July 2.

The sudden drop — which was later attributed to a fund company that used a complex computer trading program — rattled many small investors who were still avoiding stocks after the financial crisis in 2008.

“The flash crash made retail investors take a step back and say, ‘Is this really just a legalized gambling arena?’ ” said Scott Rostan, a financial consultant for investment banks and an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina.

A distrust of the stock market helped fuel a boom in commodities, which finished 2010 at their highest levels in years. Gold closed above $1,400 an ounce after rising throughout the year on global economic worries. Oil prices rose from a low of $70 a barrel to close the year higher than $90.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to a yearly high of just under 4 percent in April and then plunged as low as 2.38 percent in October. That contributed to a historic drop in mortgage rates that brought 30-year fixed-rate loans to a low of 4.17 percent early in November.

Stocks came back in the last two months of the year after the Federal Reserve announced a $600 billion bond-buying program to lower interest rates and stimulate the economy. Bond yields fell to levels down not seen since the 1950s.

“It was a market that needed stimulus and responded miraculously,” said Quincy Krosby, the chief market strategist at Prudential. “Corporate fundamentals were clearly excellent, but to get the push that the market needed to keep it going it needed more buyers.”

Investors were also encouraged by an extension of Bush-era tax cuts and improving economic reports on unemployment, retail sales and consumer confidence, which suggested that Americans were beginning to spend again.

the end of December, investors began moving money back into U.S. stock funds after selling for every week since May.

Whether the gains will continue into 2011 will depend on a better jobs market, consumers who are more confident and the ability of corporations to earn more money from higher revenue rather than cost cutting.

Many on Wall Street are optimistic that the bull market will not end next year.

“All of the economic indicators are pointing to stronger growth next year,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at New York-based brokerage firm Avalon Partners Inc.

Consumer discretionary stocks in the S&P 500 have risen 26 percent this year, making them the best performers of the 10 industry groups in the index.

Meanwhile, health care and utility stocks have been the worst performers, rising less than 1 percent for the year.

In large part because of worries over the health of the euro, the dollar rose throughout the year against an index of six heavily traded currencies. It reached its peak in June before falling to nearly the level where it began the year.

 

Copy the Story Link