Stocks hold onto modest gains, marking record

Stocks eked out modest gains Wednesday, keeping the major stock indexes on Wall Street at or near record highs.

The S&P 500 inched up 0.1 percent, recovering some of its losses from a day earlier. It’s hovering within 0.1 percent of the record high it set on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just above its own all-time high from Monday.

Energy and materials companies led the gains. Industrial and financial stocks also had a strong showing. Communication services stocks fell the most. Roughly 73 percent of stocks in the S&P 500 rose. Treasury yields mostly fell.

Small-company stocks again outpaced their larger rivals, a sign that investors are feeling more optimistic about the economy.

Stocks have been mostly grinding higher in recent weeks, with indexes setting new highs, amid optimism that coronavirus vaccinations will pave the way in coming months for the economy to escape from the pandemic’s grip.

“This is overall a market that’s setting the stage for 2021 and looking at an economy that is going to normalize, albeit at a probably slower pace than initially projected,“said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

The S&P 500 index rose 5 points to 3,732.04. The Dow gained 73.89 points, or 0.2 percent, to 30,409.56. The Nasdaq composite picked up 19.78 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,870. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 20.63 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,979.99.

Ahead of the final day of trading in 2020, the S&P 500 is up 15.5 percent this year, while the Nasdaq is up 43.4 percent.