Stocks’ holding pattern persists
NEW YORK — Stocks remained at a near standstill Wednesday, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 moved by less than 0.4 percent for the ninth day in a row. That’s the longest streak of listlessness for the S&P 500 since the summer of 2013.
The S&P 500 rose 4 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,271.89. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 22.05 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,804.72. The Nasdaq composite index rose 16.93, or 0.3 percent, to 5,555.65. Slightly more stocks rose on the New York Stock Exchange than fell.
Stocks have been in a wait-and-see period in recent weeks after their torrid run since Election Day. The S&P 500 is up 6.2 percent since Donald Trump’s surprise victory to gain the White House, driven higher by expectations for lower corporate taxes and less regulation. Trump will take the oath of office Friday, and investors are waiting to see how much of his campaign-trail rhetoric will become government policy.
“It’s natural after such a remarkable run postelection to have a bit of a flat, quiet period as investors wait for some more tangibles,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management. “We know directionally where Donald Trump wants to go, and with a Republican Congress he’s got a higher probability of success than otherwise, but we don’t have the details.”
One notable area of weakness in the stock market was retail. The Christmas shopping season was weaker than many traditional retailers were expecting, and Target became the latest to cut its forecast for fourth-quarter sales and profits as a result. The discounter said that traffic levels at its stores were disappointing in November and December, and its stock fell $4.09, or 5.8 percent, to $66.85 after its announcement.
Target had the secondlargest loss in the S&P 500, while Dollar Tree and other retailers weren’t far behind.
The biggest loss in the S&P 500 came from specialty biopharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt, which fell $2.89, or 5.8 percent, to $46.53 after it agreed to pay $100 million to end a government investigation. Antitrust regulators and five states said Questcor, a company Mallinckrodt bought in 2014, illegally bought the rights to a drug that would have competed with its lupus and multiple-sclerosis treatment Acthar gel. The agencies said that deal gave Questcor a monopoly. Questcor raised the price of Acthar from $40 a vial in 2001 to $34,000.
Treasury-note yields rose sharply. The yield on the 10-year note climbed to 2.42 percent from 2.33 percent late Tuesday. It more than made up its loss from the previous day, and continues the steady march higher that bond yields have been on since Election Day. Expectations of higher inflation, along with faster economic growth, have driven the trend.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $1.40 to settle at $51.08 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.55 to close at $53.92. Natural gas fell 11 cents to $3.302 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil fell 4 cents to $1.61 a gallon, and wholesale gasoline fell 5 cents to $1.55 per gallon.