Dow, S&P 500 end 2015 with losses for worst year since 2008

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 racked up their worst annual performance in seven years after a selloff in the final Wall Street session of 2015 Thursday.

At the closing bell, the S&P 500 was down 1.0 percent, leaving the broad-based gauge of US stocks down 0.7 percent for the year, its first loss since 2011. The blue-chip Dow also dropped 1.0 percent in the session, to take its annual loss to 2.3 percent.

But the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index proved a bright spot, ending 2015 with a gain of 5.7 percent despite dropping 1.2 percent in the last day of trade.