Wall Street ended 2021 on a weak note Friday, but still managed to end the year with big gains.

       The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%. It wound up with a yearly gain of 26.9%, nearly as big as its gain two years ago, just before the pandemic set in. The S&P 500 notched its latest record high on Wednesday, its 70th of the year.

       Company profits came in strong this year as the economy reopened, but the fast-spreading omicron variant and the looming end of the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies are overhangs for investors going into the new year.

       On Friday:

       The S&P 500 fell 12.55 points, or 0.3%, to 4,766.18.

       The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.78 points, or 0.2%, to 36,338.30.

       The Nasdaq fell 96.59 points, or 0.6%, to 15,644.97.

       The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.48 points, or 0.2%, to 2,245.31.

       For the week:

       The S&P 500 rose 40.39 points, or 0.9%.

       The Dow rose 387.74 points, or 1.1%.

       The Nasdaq fell 8.40 points, or 0.1%.

       The Russell 2000 rose 3.74 points, or 0.2%.

       For the year:

       The S&P 500 rose 1,010.11 points, or 26.9%.

       The Dow rose 5,731.82 points, or 18.7%.

       The Nasdaq rose 2,756.69 points, or 21.4%.

       The Russell 2000 rose 270.46 points, or 13.7%.