To Traders' Dismay, the S&P Broke Even This Year

Happy New Year, money managers! The Standard & Poors 500 index erased its 2011 losses and stopped short of adding even the tiniest bit of gains at market close on Friday. Actually, happy wouldn't be the right word to use, since investment bankers typically want their investments to appreciate. But with the S&P closing at 1257.60, just four hundredths of a point below last year's 1257.64, it looks like the market pretty much broke even in 2011. The Wall Street Journal's Mark Gongloff offers a pessimistic take on the end of this year at the stock market. "The entire year has been a wash. A long, painful, horrible wash," Gongloff sighs. "This has been like that episode of Dallas when Pam Ewing wakes up to find Bobby in the shower and realizes that the entire season was just one long dream."