NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing . But it wasn't just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin , gold and other investments also drove higher. Here's a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All are as of Dec. 20. Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball's Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? That was the last time the U.S. stock market closed out a second straight year with a leap of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index has climbed 24.3% so far this year, not including dividends, following last year's spurt of 24.2%. The number of all-time highs the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first came early, on Jan. 19, when the index capped a two-year comeback from the swoon caused by high inflation and worries that high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to combat it would create a recession. But the index was methodical through the rest of the year, setting a record in every month outside of April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on Dec. 6. The number of times the Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate this year from a two-decade high, offering some relief to the economy. Expectations for those cuts, along with hopes for more in 2025, were a big reason the U.S. stock market has been so successful this year. The 1 percentage point of cuts, though, is still short of the 1.5 percentage points that many traders were forecasting for 2024 at the start of the year. The Fed disappointed investors in December when it said it may cut rates just two more times in 2025, fewer than it had earlier expected. That’s how many points the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by the day after Election Day, as investors made bets on what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for the economy and the world . The more widely followed S&P 500 soared 2.5% for its best day in nearly two years. Aside from bitcoin, stocks of banks and smaller winners were also perceived to be big winners. The bump has since diminished amid worries that Trump’s policies could also send inflation higher. The level that bitcoin topped to set a record above $108,000 this past month. It's been climbing as interest rates come down, and it got a particularly big boost following Trump's election. He's turned around and become a fan of crypto, and he's named a former regulator who’s seen as friendly to digital currencies as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing someone who critics said was overly aggressive in his oversight. Bitcoin was below $17,000 just two years ago following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Gold's rise for the year, as it also hit records and had as strong a run as U.S. stocks. Wars around the world have helped drive demand for investments seen as safe, such as gold. It's also benefited from the Fed's cut to interest rates. When bonds are paying less in interest, they pull away fewer potential buyers from gold, which pays investors nothing. It's a favorite number of Elon Musk, and it's also a threshold that Tesla's stock price passed in December as it set a record. The number has a long history among marijuana devotees, and Musk famously said in 2018 that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share . Tesla soared this year, up from less than $250 at the start, in part because of expectations that Musk's close relationship with Trump could benefit the company. That's how much revenue Nvidia made in the nine months through Oct. 27, showing how the artificial-intelligence frenzy is creating mountains of cash. Nvidia's chips are driving much of the move into AI, and its revenue through the last nine months catapulted from less than $39 billion the year before. Such growth has boosted Nvidia's worth to more than $3 trillion in total. GameStop’s gain on May 13 after Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” appeared online for the first time in three years to support the video game retailer’s stock, which he helped rocket to unimaginable heights during the “ meme stock craze ” in 2021. Several other meme stocks also jumped following his post in May on the social platform X, including AMC Entertainment. Gill later disclosed a sizeable stake in the online pet products retailer Chewy, but he sold all of his holdings by late October . That's how much the U.S. economy grew, at annualized seasonally adjusted rates, in each of the three first quarters of this year. Such growth blew past what many pessimists were expecting when inflation was topping 9% in the summer of 2022. The fear was that the medicine prescribed by the Fed to beat high inflation — high interest rates — would create a recession. Households at the lower end of the income spectrum in particular are feeling pain now, as they contend with still-high prices. But the overall economy has remained remarkably resilient. This is the vacancy rate for U.S. office buildings — an all-time high — through the first three quarters of 2024, according to data from Moody's. The fact the rate held steady for most of the year was something of a win for office building owners, given that it had marched up steadily from 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2019. Demand for office space weakened as the pandemic led to the popularization of remote work. That's the total number of previously occupied homes sold nationally through the first 11 months of 2024. Sales would have to surge 20% year-over-year in December for 2024's home sales to match the 4.09 million existing homes sold in 2023, a nearly 30-year low. The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. A shortage of homes for sale and elevated mortgage rates have discouraged many would-be homebuyers.COLLEGE BOWL
Longtime NFL wide receiver DeSean Jackson will take over as head coach at Delaware State, Victory Formation Media and ESPN reported Thursday. If confirmed, it would be the latest data point in a growing trend of FCS football teams hiring well-known former players -- with little to no prior coaching experience -- in an effort to stand out. Jackson, 38, has no connection to Delaware State but according to ESPN, "it has always been a dream" of his to coach at an HBCU (historically black colleges and universities). Earlier this month, Norfolk State hired Michael Vick to take over the Spartans' program. Vick, who also reportedly heard from Sacramento State, hails from the Norfolk, Va., area. Norfolk State is one of Delaware State's rivals in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Colorado coach Deion Sanders spent three seasons (2020-22) as the head coach of Jackson State before moving up to the FBS level. His only prior coaching experience came at the high school level, including at his own short-lived charter school in Texas, "Prime Prep Academy." Jackson last played for the Baltimore Ravens in 2022. He is best known for two stints with the Philadelphia Eagles (2008-13, 2019-20) and played for a total of six teams in a 15-year NFL career. Jackson caught 641 passes for 11,263 yards and 58 touchdowns, adding four rushing touchdowns and four punt return touchdowns in 183 career games. Delaware State went 1-11 in 2024 (0-5 MEAC) and fired coach Lee Hull after the season. The Hornets have not had a winning season since going 6-5 in 2012. --Field Level MediaArticle content NEW YORK — Thousands of Microsoft 365 customers worldwide reported having issues with services like Outlook and Teams on Monday. In social media posts and comments on platforms like outage tracker Downdetector, some impacted said that they were having trouble seeing their emails, loading calendars or opening other Microsoft 365 applications such as Powerpoint. Microsoft acknowledged “an issue impacting users attempting to access Exchange Online or functionality within Microsoft Teams calendar” earlier in the day. In updates posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the company’s status page said it identified a “recent change” that it believed to be behind the problem — and was working to revert it. Microsoft shared that it was deploying a fix — which, as of shortly before noon E.T., it said had reached about 98% of “affected environments.” Still, the company’s status page later added, targeted restarts were “progressing slower than anticipated for the majority of affected users.” As of midday Monday, Downdetector showed thousands of outage reports from users of Microsoft 365, particularly Outlook.
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EY has an AI avatar named eVe that lets job candidates do a pre-interview in the metaverseIn a rare incident, a woman in the remote Machil area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district gave birth on a snow-covered road in Chontiwari Payeen after being unable to reach the hospital due to uncleared roads post snowfall. Locals alleged administrative negligence, stating that despite only few inches of snow, the roads remained non-motorable, leaving them to fend for themselves. “The administration, particularly the concerned department, failed to clear just few inches of snow,” said a local resident, adding that the situation reflects the stepmotherly treatment to far-off villages. In videos shared on social media, residents expressed anger and frustration. “Is there anyone listening? We are being left at God’s mercy,” lamented a local, highlighting the difficulties faced in transporting the patient to the hospital. Muhammad Jamaal Lone, a resident of Chontiwari, criticized the absence of adequate healthcare facilities in the area. “We have a health center, but there are no doctors. We’ve been struggling for hours to save the mother and child,” he said. The incident sparked outrage, with locals demanding accountability from the administration besides, immediate measures to improve road clearance and healthcare services in the region, to avert such incidents in future. Meanwhile, Tehsildar Saqib Ahmed, refuted the allegations, calling them baseless. He clarified that the woman developed severe labor pains and delivered the baby en route to the hospital. “Both the mother and the child are safe,” he said, as per news agency KNO. He added that the administration had earlier advised expectant mothers nearing their delivery date to stay in Kupwara for immediate medical attention due to the snow. “I spoke to the family, and they expressed satisfaction with the services provided. Immediate healthcare was ensured, and both mother and child are currently under medical care at PHC Dudi,” he stated. Regarding snow clearance, the Tehsildar said, “Major roads have been cleared, and efforts are underway to clear the remaining ones.”
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