Stocks wobble; energy sector rises but tech falls

U.S. stock indexes wobbled between gains and losses Wednesday, then finished with a split decision. Technology companies dropped, canceling out gains by energy companies.

Oil and gasoline prices rose again, and U.S. crude reached its highest price in two months. Chipmakers fell, and Apple slipped after announcing new iPhones and Apple Watches.

The market staged a brief rally after a report that the United States was seeking new trade talks with China. Stocks climbed, but they retreated to their earlier levels in less than an hour.

Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist for Invesco, said investors have learned from earlier trade updates that didn’t amount to much. “Every other time this has happened, it wasn’t worth the positive market move,” she said. “Investors are a lot more skeptical this time around, having been burned a few times with false optimism.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended with a gain of 1.03 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,888.92. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 27.86 points, or 0.1%, to 25,998.92. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 18.24 points, or 0.2%, to 7,954.23. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 2.71 points, or 0.2%, to 1,715.70.

Oil prices built on Tuesday’s gains after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude stockpiles fell by more than 5 million barrels last week. The prospect of tighter supplies and higher prices also helped energy company stocks.

Benchmark U.S. oil climbed 1.6% to $70.37 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.9% to $79.74 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline rose 1% to $2.03 a gallon. It jumped almost 3% the day before.

Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney downgraded Micron Technology stock to “neutral” and said he expects weaker market conditions for several types of computer chips. Micron fell 4.3% to $41.74. Nvidia slipped 1.7% to $268.20.

Apple tends to trade lower on the days it announces new products, and its shares fell 1.2% to $221.07. The stock is up 31% in 2018, however. After the Apple Watch updates were announced, fitness tracker company Fitbit slid 6.9% to $5.53 in heavy trading.

Cigarette makers jumped after the Food and Drug Administration said that it is looking at steps to combat “an epidemic” of ecigarette use by teenagers and that e-cigarette companies need to address the problem or risk having their flavored products pulled off the market.

Discovery Communications jumped 7.7% to $30.70 after announcing that under a new agreement, more Discovery shows will be available over the streaming service Hulu.

The Labor Department said wholesale prices unexpectedly slipped in August, the first decline in a year and a half. That’s a sign inflation pressures could be easing. The agency’s producer price index slipped 0.1% in August, although it’s up 2.8% over the last year.

The dollar weakened and interest rates slipped, which put pressure on bank stocks and boosted commodities prices. The yield on the 10year Treasury note fell to 2.96% from 2.98%.

The dollar fell to 111.22 yen from 111.59 yen. The euro rose to $1.1632 from $1.1586.

Gold rose 0.7% to $1,210.90 an ounce. Silver rose 1% to $14.29 an ounce. Copper rose 2.1% to $2.68 a pound.