Major stock indexes ended a wobbly day of trading on Wall Street mostly lower Tuesday, as losses in energy companies and department store operators edged out gains elsewhere in the market. A solid showing for technology sector stocks helped lift the Nasdaq composite to another all-time high, while the S&P 500 index finished less than 0.1% below the record close it reached on Monday. Energy sector stocks took the heaviest losses as the price of US crude oil dropped 3.2%. Disappointing earnings from Kohl’s sent its stock down 19.5% and sent other retailer stocks into a skid. A 5.4% slide in Home Depot’s stock weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which ended lower a day after inching to a record high.
"It's almost a carbon copy of yesterday," Jeff Zipper, managing director at US Bank Private Wealth Management tells the AP. "The S&P basically flat, the Nasdaq obviously up. Right now, the markets, as we go toward year end, their path of least resistance is up." The S&P 500 index slipped 1.85 points, or less than 0.1%, to 3,120.18. The Dow fell 102.20 points, or 0.4%, to 27,934.02. The Nasdaq climbed 20.72 points, or 0.2%, to 8,570.66. Bond prices rose, sending bond yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.79% from 1.80% late Monday.
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