u.s. stocks fell on Wednesday as crude oil prices continued their descent. The S&P (SPX) closed out a third straight year of double-digit gains.

For the year, the Dow ended up 7.5 percent, notching its sixth straight annual gain while the Nasdaq rose 13.4 percent. The best-performing S&P component in 2014 was Southwest Airlines Co (LUV) up 124.6 percent; Transocean Ltd (RIG), down 62.9 percent, was the worst.

Equities lost steam heading into the New Year after rallying nearly 6 percent over eight sessions, sparked by the U.S. Federal Reserve's commitment to be “patient” about raising interest rates and positive economic data.

Still, the S&P 500 has risen in seven of the past ten sessions, hitting a series of intraday and closing records, and finished the year up 11.4 percent. The stock market will be closed Thursday.

“The fact of the matter is markets put in a solid year in spite of significant headwinds that could have easily derailed a multi-year bull market,” said Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at Clearpool Group in New York.

Action in the energy space was once again a focus for investors. U.S. crude oil settled down 85 cents at $53.27 a barrel, its lowest since May 2009. Brent settled down 57 cents to $57.33.

The S&P Energy index easily the worst performing sector of the year with a decline of 10 percent, lost 0.8 percent Wednesday. Diamond Offshore fell 3.6 percent to $36.71 and Noble Corp fell 2.8 percent to $16.57.