Market Roundup ...

News that the economy skidded to a near-halt in the first three months of the year helped push the stock market lower Wednesday.

Battered by harsh weather, plunging exports and sharp cutbacks in oil and gas drilling, the overall economy grew at a barely discernible annual rate of 0.2% in the first quarter, the Commerce Department reported. It was the poorest showing in a year and down from 2.2% growth in the fourth quarter.

Stocks stayed lower after the Federal Reserve downgraded its assessment of the economy and appeared no closer to raising its benchmark interest rate from close to zero.

The stock market, trading close to record levels, is struggling to maintain its upward momentum at the start of the seventh year of a bull-market run.

The S&P 500 index has gained only 2.3% in the first four months of the year and is fluctuating between small gains and losses. That’s a trend that may continue for a while.

“We’re in a period of indecisiveness, where things could stay muddled for a while, without any really compelling case to either drive things back up … or, on the other hand, to send things back into a major pullback,” said Katrina Lamb, head of investment strategy and research at MV Financial, a wealth management firm.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 7.91 points, or 0.4%, to 2,106.85. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 74.61 points, or 0.4%, or 18,035.53 points. Nasdaq declined 31.78 points, or 0.6%, to 5,023.64.

In corporate news, shares of Salesforce.com surged as investors reacted to a report that the business software company had been approached by an unidentified suitor. Salesforce jumped $7.76, or 11.6%, to $74.65.

In currency trading, the euro climbed to $1.1116 from $1.0972 after the weakerthan-forecast report on the U.S. economy. That’s the currency’s highest level against the dollar in almost two months. The dollar rose to 118.98 yen from 118.82 yen late Tuesday