Bargain shoppers

Traders Kevin Walsh (center) and Andrew Silverman (right) work Wednesday on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones industrial average eked out a tiny gain Wednesday while other major indexes posted small losses.

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks closed mostly lower Wednesday as media and health care companies took losses. The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, but bond yields and banks rose as investors felt rates will increase soon.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 3.04 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,388.13. The Dow Jones industrial average added 8.01 points to 20,957.90. The Nasdaq composite sank 22.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,072.55. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller companies, declined 8.44 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,390.92.

First-quarter results for most companies have been good, but stocks were mostly lower all day as a few bigname companies disclosed shaky results. Media companies tumbled after Time Warner said its cable advertising revenue fell. Apple slipped after iPhone sales came in lower than investors expected, but the stock recovered nearly all of its losses.

The Fed left interest rates where they were but also said it expects the economy to start growing at a faster pace. That could set the stage for the Fed to raise interest rates in June. Bond yields and interest rates rose after the Fed made its statement. That sent bank stocks higher, which narrowed the market’s losses. The dollar also got a bit stronger.

Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist for LPL Financial, said he agrees that the economy will improve after a sluggish first quarter.

“Earnings have been strong across the board,” he said. “The economy isn’t quite as weak as that GDP [report] makes it look.”

The Fed said economic growth slowed over the past six weeks as inflation stayed low and spending didn’t increase much. However, it expects growth to pick up and said inflation should eventually reach its target of 2 percent. Experts think it’s likely the central bank will raise rates in June, as it did in December and again in March. Detrick said he thinks the Fed will raise interest rates two more times this year.

Media companies slumped after Time Warner, the owner of HBO and TBS, said revenue from cable advertising fell in the first quarter. Time Warner has agreed to be bought by AT&T, so its stock hardly budged, but its competitors slumped. Walt Disney shed $2.75, or 2.4 percent, to $111.62, for its biggest loss in almost a year. Viacom sank $3.20, or 7.5 percent, to $39.26, and CBS lost $2.20, or 3.4 percent, to $63.46. Twenty-First Century Fox gave up $1.55, or 5.1 percent, to $28.88.

Apple’s first-quarter iPhone sales and projections for the current quarter weren’t quite as good as analysts hoped. Apple stock struggled in late 2015 and for much of 2016 as iPhone sales slowed down and then fell for the first time. But they’ve climbed 27 percent this year and the stock closed at an all-time high Tuesday. It fell as much as 2.2 percent early Wednesday, but finished down just 45 cents at $147.06.

U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 16 cents to $47.82 a barrel in New York. On Tuesday, U.S. crude oil closed at its lowest price since mid-November. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 33 cents to $50.79 a barrel in London.

AP/RICHARD DREW