Stock markets

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes had a banner year in 2009 but even that couldn't overcome the bulk of losses recorded over the last 10 years.

The Dow Jones industrial average, at 10,548.51, opened the final trading day of the year 20 percent above its 2008 close (8,776.39) but 8 percent below the 11,497.12 of Dec. 31, 1999. The DJIA record close, reached Oct. 9, 2007, is 14,164.53.

With 2009 turning to 2010, it is the 10-year span that is being watched and that has been relatively dismal. The last time the DJIA closed a similar 10-year period lower than it opened was in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The 2009 stock gain wasn't limited to the United States, as the MSCI World Index saw a 28 percent increase this year (having dropped 42 percent in 2008) while London's FTSE was poised for an increase of 22 percent and the CAC in Paris 23 percent on the year.

On the other hand, many investors shied from relatively volatile stocks for safer havens, sending the S&P raw materials index up 51 percent on the year -- that indicator's best showing in 40 years.