NEW YORK » The last trading day of 2008 on Wall Street provided a merciful end to an abysmal year - the worst since the Great Depression, wiping out $6.9 trillion in stock market wealth.

By the year's end, many market analysts were predicting that 2009 would be better, but that recovery would be slow as investors, shaken by the devastation to their portfolios, U.S. companies and the overall economy, remain reluctant to buy.

Yet the last week of the year was almost serene.

Yesterday, the Dow rose 108.00, or 1.25 percent, to 8,776.39.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 12.61, or 1.42 percent, to 903.25. The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.33, or 1.70 percent, to 1,577.03 and ended the year down 40.5 percent. It's down 44.8 percent from its recent peak in October; the Nasdaq's record high close of 5,048.62 came in March 2000 just before the end of the dot-com boom.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 16.68, or 3.46 percent, to 499.45.

The tranquility was a welcome change in a year that was rocky from the start as worries about the financial system were fed by reports that banks had suffered billions of dollars in losses on securities tied to defaulting mortgages.

Wall Street is hoping for signs of recovery by the second half of 2009, including evidence the housing market has hit bottom, increased lending by banks and a drop in unemployment accompanied by increased consumer spending.

Even a modest improvement in the economy, which has been in recession since last December, could help stocks extend their recent run.

“;If you're standing still, walking is a pickup of speed,”; said Alan Levenson, chief economist at T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.