Wall Street delivered another strong year in 2021, as a spike in consumer demand fueled by the reopening of the global economy pumped up corporate profits.
Investors faced plenty of challenges, however, most notably a resurgence of inflation and the persistent coronavirus pandemic.
Retail investors made their presence felt by boosting GameStop and other so-called meme stocks to sky-high levels.
They also flocked to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
A record number of companies went public, trying to take advantage of the soaring stock market.
China cracked down on big technology companies, knocking more than $1 trillion off their market value.
In social media, Facebook changed its name while Twitter changed its leadership.
