The U.S. stock market ended 2024 on a high note, with the benchmark S&P 500 index up by 23.3%. That came on the heels of its 24.2% rise in 2023, so overall, the S&P was up by 53.2% since 2022 -- one of its best two-year stretches of the 21st century.

Equity analyst Dan Ives has made a quite a few prescient calls in his career. In the last year alone, he predicted the Nasdaq Composite would hit 20,000, and he remained bullish on Palantir despite widespread skepticism.

Artificial intelligence has been a hot market throughout 2024. AI fueled the surge in share price for companies such as Nvidia, which saw its stock rise nearly 180% over the past year through Dec. 31.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and the excitement around their potential drove the stock prices of some of the biggest companies in the world higher in 2024. But not eve