Wall Street stocks slipped on Tuesday to end 2024 on a gloomy note, but investors capped a strong overall year that was boosted by tech stocks, interest rate cuts and a robust US economy.

The Dow Jones lost 0.1 percent to 42,544, while the S&P 500 Index declined 0.4 percent to 5,881.

The Nasdaq fell 0.9 percent to 19,310.

"It was kind of a disappointing end to the year," said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, noting that markets have closed lower for a few consecutive days.

He believed the selling in recent days involved "some large portfolios reallocating money from stocks."

But "this year was phenomenal" overall, he said, noting that major indexes moved higher and major tech stocks dominated.

The Dow was up around 13 percent from a year ago while the S&P 500 added more than 23 percent and the Nasdaq gained nearly 29 percent.

Key factors included semiconductor and artificial intelligence stocks, with enthusiasm around Artificial Intelligence (AI) helping the "Magnificent Seven" US tech heavyweights – which include Apple and Nvidia – this year.

Concerns about the pace of US interest rate cuts and uncertainty over President-elect Donald Trump's trade and tariff agenda could cloud the outlook, however.

But Sosnick believed "there's a lot of optimism about the coming year." (AFP)