Wild Ride Ends With a Slide

Updated from 4:16 p.m. EST

Wall Street ended a tumultuous year on a downbeat note Monday, with stocks tumbling in a lightly traded session as traders closed out their positions for 2007.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101.05 points, or 0.76%, to 13,264.82. Only seven of the Dow's 30 components advanced, with declines of 1.6% in telecom names AT&T (T - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Verizon (VZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) pressuring the index.

Elsewhere, the S&P 500 fell 10.13 points, or 0.69%, to 1468.36, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 22.18 points, or 0.83%, to 2652.28.

The decline capped a year that was a roller-coaster ride for the markets amid the housing slump and credit meltdown. Still, for all of 2007, the Dow gained 6.4% and the S&P 500 rose 3.5%, both hampered by a weak fourth-quarter performance. The Nasdaq was the best performer, climbing 9.8%.

For the fourth quarter, the losses were 4.5% on the Dow, 1.8% on the Nasdaq and 3.9% on the S&P.

"This year has been one wild ride, and it's finally over," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment officer with Oaktree Asset Management. "People are thankful this year has passed, but next year will bring a whole new set of challenges. We still finished the year with gains, so it was still a decent year with a strong return."

Over the last two years, the Dow has added 23.8%, the Nasdaq has jumped 20.2% and the S&P 500 has climbed 17.6%. In the last five years, the Dow has rallied 59%, the Nasdaq has surged 98.7% and the S&P 500 is higher by 66.8%.