The final month of the year gets underway on Monday, and investors will be looking for a smoother month to round out the year after choppy November trading saw the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) snap a seven-month winning streak while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved back to within 1% of a record high.
On Friday, markets ended the week by notching a fifth straight session of gains to close out the up-and-down month in a holiday-shortened trading session. And despite snapping its monthly winning streak, the Nasdaq is also within 3% of a record. The Dow is less than 2% off its record close.
And while the f