U.S. stock indexes dip as oil prices sink energy companies

NEW YORK» A late gain for U.S. stocks slipped away Wednesday as a four-day winning streak ended. Energy companies sank along with the price of oil.

The price of crude oil fell more than 3 percent Wednesday. Big dividend payers and industrial companies slipped. Gains for Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet helped technology companies finish higher. Banks and health care companies also rose.

The U.S. and China both announced new tariffs: Later this month, each country will put a 25 percent tax on $16 billion in goods imported from the other. Both countries placed tariffs on $34 billion in imports earlier this month, and they have threatened much larger tariffs to come.

But investors have been focusing on rising company earnings instead. Karyn Cavanaugh, senior markets strategist at Voya Investment Management, said U.S. companies are expecting bigger profits in spite of the tariffs.

“That speaks to me a lot louder than a lot of negative headlines,” she said. “Companies have gotten very good at minimizing their costs and being very efficient with what they have.”

The S&P 500 index dipped 0.75 points to 2,857.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.16 points, or 0.2 percent, to 25,583.75. The Nasdaq composite rose 4.66 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,888.33. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks lost 1.42 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,686.88.

The Trump administration plans to tax Chinese industrial products such as steam turbines and iron girders starting Aug. 23. China’s government said it will put tariffs on U.S. goods including cars, crude oil and scrap metal starting on the same date.

Oil futures fell sharply. U.S. crude oil lost 3.2 percent to $66.94 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, fell 3.2 percent to $72.28 a barrel in London.

Exxon Mobil lost 0.7 percent to $80.73 and Chevron dipped 1 percent to $123.88.

Snap, which runs the Snapchat video app, fell 6.8 percent to $12.23 after it said daily users fell during the second quarter. It’s the latest technology company to have its stock drop after announcing discouraging user totals, joining Facebook, Twitter and Netflix.

Match Group — the parent of online dating companies including Match.com and OKCupid — bucked that trend. Its stock jumped 17.3 percent to $45.60 after Match reported big gains in subscribers, especially for Tinder. Its adjusted profit and revenue beat Wall Street projections.