U.S. equity index futures flat to slightly red Euro STOXX 600 index slips ~0.1% Dollar dips, crude falls; gold, bitcoin rise U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield edges down to ~1.50% Dec 31 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com IN 2021, THE S&P 500 ALMOST PARTIED LIKE IT WAS 1995 (0900 EST/1400 GMT) With just one trading day to go in 2021, the S&P 500 (.SPX) is posting a 27.2% gain for the year. That"s its biggest yearly rise since a 28.9% advance in 2019. Video game retailer GameStop (GME.N), theater operator AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) and online brokerage Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O) were prominent amid meme stock mania read more , while Coinbase Global (COIN.O) capitalized on the cryptocurrency craze with its public listing. read more On the IPO front, EV maker Rivian Automotive Inc"s (RIVN.O) $12 billion deal was the biggest since Alibaba"s (9988.HK) 2014 public debut. read more This as record-setting IPO and SPAC issuance in 2021 will be a tough act to follow. read more Of note, however, it can be said that 2021 was also one big party for record-high closes. Through Thursday, the benchmark index has registered 70 record-high closes, or the second most ever. Using Refinitiv data back to 1928, the most SPX record-high closes in a single year was 77 in 1995: SPXRecordHighCloses12312021 SPXRecordHighCloses12312021 Back in 1995, the S&P 500 rose 34.1%. The next year, it only recorded 39 record-high closes, and its gain slowed. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a very respectable 20.3% rise. Not including this year, the SPX has averaged about 14 record-high closes per year. Prior to 2021, the S&P 500 has registered more than 40 record-high closes in any single year 13 times. In 11 of those instances, or about 85% of the time, it scored fewer record-high closes the following year. The average for the years following more than 40 record-high closes, is 25. Still well above the overall average, but a sharp drop-off nonetheless. Additionally, from 1929 to 2020, the S&P 500 has posted an average yearly change of +7.4%. The average yearly change in the years following more than 40 record-high closes is +4.4%. Therefore, by these numbers, it may be a stretch to expect 2022 will deliver better results than what 2021 has offered. (Terence Gabriel/Lance Tupper) ***** FOR FRIDAY"S LIVE MARKETS" POSTS PRIOR TO 0900 EST/1400 GMT - CLICK HERE: read more