Stocks end wobbly day mostly lower; natural gas prices surge

U.S. stock indexes closed mostly lower Tuesday as losses in health care and technology companies kept gains in energy and other sectors of the market in check.

The S&P 500 ended down less than 0.1% after giving up a modest early gain. Energy companies that stand to benefit from record electricity prices due to the frigid cold impacting much of the country surged. Marathon Oil and Apache Corp. were among the biggest gainers.

Bond yields, which have been ticking higher on expectations of rising inflation, rose sharply. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.29%, the highest level in a year. Bank stocks made broad gains on the higher yields, which allow them to charge more lucrative interest rates on loans. Utilities and real estate stocks, bond proxies that can look less attractive when bond yields rise, were among the biggest decliners.

Despite the mostly tentative day of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched higher, enough to set another all-time high.

“You have a continuation of some of the trends that we’ve had recently and the kind of bifurcation within the market where the things that are benefiting from higher yields are continuing to do well, and that speaks to an improving economy and more inflation,” said Willie Delwiche, in

vestment strategist at All Star Charts.

The S&P 500 slipped 2.24 points to 3,932.59. The Dow rose 64.35 points, or 0.2%, to 31,522.75. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 47.97 points, or 0.3%, to 14,047.50. The three indexes closed at

record highs on Friday. U.S. markets were closed Monday for a holiday.

Stocks of smaller companies fared worse than the broader market. The Russell 2000 index lost 16.47 points, or 0.7%, to 2,272.89.

Optimism that Washington will come through on trillions of dollars of more aid for the economy and encouraging company earnings reports have helped stocks grind higher this month, along with hopes that the coronavirus vaccine rollout will set the stage for stronger economic growth.

With the second impeachment trial over, investors believe Congress can now make progress toward passing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. The package would include onetime payments to Americans.