The S&P 500 may be heading for its first gain since Christmas. The main gauge of Wall Street’s health rose 0.5% in early trading Friday and was on track to break a five-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 216 points,

A soft finish to 2024 still left stocks with a second straight stellar year. The S&P 500 logged a 23.3% gain, which follows a 24% rise in 2023. The combined gains of more than 53% was the largest two-year percentage jump for the index since year-end 1998,