Indexes mixed as tech stocks drop

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks wobbled between gains and losses then finished with a split decision Wednesday as technology companies dropped. That canceled out gains for energy companies.

Oil and gasoline prices continued to rise Wednesday after a big gain the day before, and U.S. crude reached its highest price in two months. Chipmakers fell, while Apple Inc. slipped after announcing new features for iPhones and Apple Watches.

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

The S&P 500 index edged up 1.03 points to 2,888.92. The Dow Jones industrial average added 27.86 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,998.92.

The losses for technology companies weighed on the Nasdaq composite, which slid 18.24 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,954.23. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 2.71 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,715.70.

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 about positive trade developments.”

Most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange finished higher.

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 percent to $70.37 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, added 0.9 percent to $79.74 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 1 percent to $2.03 a gallon. It jumped almost 3 percent the day before.

Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney downgraded Micron Technology Inc. stock to “neutral” and said he expects weaker market conditions for several types of computer chips.

Micron fell 4.3 percent to $41.74 and Nvidia Corp. slipped 1.7 percent to $268.20.

Apple unveiled new iPhones with larger screens on Wednesday, and also said new Apple Watches will have larger screens and new health-monitoring features.

Apple tends to trade lower on the days it announces new products, and it fell 1.2 percent to $221.07 Wednesday. It’s up 31 percent in 2018, however.

As the Apple Watch updates were announced, shares of fitness tracker company Fitbit Inc. slumped 6.9 percent to $5.53 in heavy trading. According to The Wall

Street Journal, U.S. officials recently proposed a new round of trade negotiations to give the Chinese government another chance to address U.S. concerns before President Donald Trump’s administration imposes bigger tariffs on goods imported from China.

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

Altria Group Inc. surged 6.7 percent to $63.43, its largest gain in just under a decade. Philip Morris International Inc. rose 3.4 percent to $80.05 and overseas rivals like British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands also jumped.