The Federal Reserve's latest signals on interest rates gave U.S. stocks a lift for much of Wednesday, but the rally didn't last.
A sell-off in the final minutes of trading knocked the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index slightly into the red. The slide extended a three-day losing streak for the two indexes. Only the Nasdaq composite held its course, carving out a slight gain.
The Dow fell 99.64 points, or 0.6 percent, to 15,914.74. The average is now down 8.7 percent this year. The S&P 500 index slipped 0.35 point, or 0.02 percent, to 1,851.86. The index is off 9.4 percent this year.
The Nasdaq added 14.83 points, or 0.35 percent, to 4,283.59. The gain helped trim the Nasdaq's losses for the year, which stand at 14.45 percent.
Materials and energy stocks were among the biggest decliners as U.S. crude oil prices fell again.
Investors were mostly focused on Fed Chairman Janet Yellen's remarks on the economy and interest rates as she delivered her semiannual report to Congress.
The market has been anxious about the possibility of interest rate increases at a time when the global economy is showing signs of slowing. But Yellen's remarks addressed investors' concerns, said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.
"The markets have gotten the message that the Fed is not on autopilot," Davidson said. "If they'd gotten the sense that the Fed was on autopilot and was predestined to a certain number of rate hikes in 2016, that would have been troublesome."
Investors appeared to be in a buying mood early in the day in anticipation of Yellen's testimony. That sent stocks higher early on and sustained them until the last-minute slide as oil prices closed lower.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 49 cents, or 1.8 percent, to close at $27.45 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, rose 52 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at $30.84 a barrel in London.
Yellen offered no major surprises in prepared remarks released before the start of her two-day congressional testimony. She reiterated the Fed's confidence that the U.S. economy was on track for stronger growth and a rebound in inflation.
Eight of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 index declined. Health care and technology stocks bucked the downward trend.
Akamai Technologies notched the biggest increase in the S&P 500 index, surging 21.2 percent. It added $8.39 to $47.96. Assurant, an insurance company, fell the most. The stock lost $10.26, or 13.4 percent, to $66.23.
Several big media companies slumped.
Disney fell 3.8 percent a day after it reported a revenue drop from its ESPN network. The stock was the biggest decliner in the Dow, sliding $3.47 to $88.85. Time Warner was down 5 percent after its revenue fell short of forecasts. The company shed $3.14 to $60.07.
In Europe, Germany's DAX added 1.6 percent, while France's CAC-40 rose 1.6 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.7 percent.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.67 percent from 1.73 percent late Tuesday.
Business on 02/11/2016