US Market Indexes Mixed, S&P 500 Resists New High

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,733.60 on Wednesday with a loss of -88.69 points or -0.34%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,861.82 for a loss of -1.14 points or -0.04%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,889.10 for a gain of 29.92 points or 0.38%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 12.25 for a loss of -0.61 points or -4.74%.

Wednesday’s market movers

The S&P 500 saw resistance near a new closing high, with the Dow Jones also closing lower on Wednesday. Tech stocks and small caps were mostly higher. Energy stocks led gains while industrials led losses. Political turmoil from the announcement of Michael Cohen’s dealings with the Trump campaign was a negative factor for the day.

Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:

• The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index was 4.2% higher for the week.
• Existing home sales decreased to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million.
• The EIA Petroleum Status report showed oil inventory down -5.8 million barrels for the week.
• The Federal Open Market Committee released its meeting minutes with little directional change in the monetary policy outlook as the economy appears likely to call for continued rate increases.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses and gains:

Losses

• United Technologies (UTX, Financial) -2.02%
• Travelers (TRV, Financial) -1.75%

Gains

• Exxon (XOM, Financial) 1.43%
• Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) 1.02%

Small-cap stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,722.54 for a gain of 4.50 points or 0.26%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,091.20 for a gain of 1.79 points or 0.16%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 10,701.54 for a gain of 47.13 points or 0.44%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,769.72 for a loss of -14.15 points or -0.13%.

Other notable indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,034.49 for a loss of -0.18 points or -0.01%; the S&P 100 at 1,267.09 for a gain of 0.55 points or 0.04%; the Russell 3000 at 1,702.76 for a gain of 0.12 points or 0.01%; the Russell 1000 at 1,588.52 for a loss of -0.22 points or -0.01%; the Wilshire 5000 at 29,889.96 for a gain of 12.85 points or 0.04%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 722.72 for a loss of -4.01 points or -0.55%.