U.S. stock indexes capped another quiet day on Wall Street on Wednesday with slight gains, recouping some of the market's modest Tuesday losses.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 2.12 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,682.62. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 28.09 points, or 0.1 percent, to 24,774.30. The Nasdaq rose 3.09 points, or 0.04 percent, to 6,939.34. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 0.29 points, or 0.02 percent, to 1,543.94.
Technology, health care and industrial stocks accounted for much of the gain. A report showing that pending U.S. home sales inched higher last month helped lift homebuilder shares.
Retailers and consumer-goods manufacturers declined the most, after a late-afternoon slide. Energy stocks also fell along with the price of crude oil. Bond yields fell after a report showing U.S. consumer confidence dipped this month.
"Trading is obviously very light, but the market is certainly going out on a high as we head into the end of the year," said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.
The National Association of Realtors said signed contracts to buy U.S. homes increased 0.2 percent in November. The report is a barometer of future purchases. Most homebuilder shares moved higher after the report. LGI Homes led the pack, climbing $2.47, or 3.4 percent, to $75.46.
Separately, the Conference Board said its latest consumer confidence index declined slightly this month, just missing analysts' forecasts. The decline in the index drove a pickup in bond purchases, sending prices higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slid to 2.41 percent from 2.48 percent late Tuesday.
"This is probably a little bit of an air pocket on light volume in terms of yields, but it is clearly being impacted by the somewhat softer number that we saw out of consumer confidence today," said Bill Northey, senior vice president at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers Wednesday. Qorvo was up the most, adding $1.36, or 2.1 percent, to $67.26.
Several health sector stocks also notched gains. Envision Healthcare picked up 82 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $34.56.
Shares in Macy's and other big retail chains declined a day after scoring gains on strong Christmas season sales. Macy's slid $1.21, or 4.5 percent, to $25.64, while Kohl's lost $1.58, or 2.8 percent, to $55.29.
Callaway Golf tumbled 6.9 percent after the company said it invested another $20 million in entertainment company Topgolf, giving it a 14 percent stake. Callaway shares fell $1.04 to $14.02.
Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 33 cents to settle at $59.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, slipped 58 cents to close at $66.44 per barrel in London.
The slide weighed on oil producers and other energy companies. Chesapeake Energy fell 12 cents, or 3 percent, to $3.88.
Gold rose $3.90 to $1,291.40 an ounce. Silver gained 15 cents to $16.76 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $3.28 a pound.
Business on 12/28/2017