Stocks turn choppy on Wall Street after a two-day rally

Stocks turned choppy on Wall Street in afternoon trading Wednesday, keeping the market’s gains following a two-day rally in check.

Stocks turned choppy on Wall Street Wednesday following a two-day rally.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 2:41 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27 points, or 0.1%, to 35,691 and the Nasdaq rose 0.4%.

The muted trading for the benchmark S&P 500 index follows a strong start to the week that included its biggest gain since March. The rally also nearly erased its losses from the last two weeks.

Communications and health care stocks made solid gains. Facebook parent Meta Platforms rose 2.6% and Twitter rose 2.7%. Technology companies remained wobbly. Apple rose 2.1%, while Microsoft fell 0.7%. Chipmakers also slipped. Intel shed 1.9%.

A wide range of travel-related companies gained ground in a sign that investors are confident that the industry will continue its recovery despite the threat from the omicron variant of COVID-19. Booking Holdings rose 2.6%, Wynn Resorts rose 2.2% and Carnival rose 5.8%.

Energy futures rose. The price of U.S. crude oil gained 0.4%, though energy stocks were mixed.

Smaller company stocks far outpaced the broader market. The Russell 2000 index rose 0.7%.

Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.50% from 1.48% late Tuesday.

Markets in Asia were mostly higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.4% as economists are forecasting a rebound for the world’s third largest economy in the current quarter after coronavirus caseloads plummeted.