News related to coronavirus dents Wall Street rally

Stocks were mostly higher Wednesday, helped by big technology stocks, but news of tighter restrictions in New York State and California dented an early rally.

The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in afternoon trading at 3,563, nearing its all-time high of 3,580.94 set in September. It was up 0.9% earlier in the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial

Average was down 0.1%. The index was being dragged lower in part by American Express and Walt Disney, two stocks that shot up this week after news of a potentially successful vaccine sent travel, entertainment and tourism companies surging.

The Dow declined shortly after news crossed that New York would put restrictions on bars, restaurants and gyms as COVID-19 infections rose in the state.

The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, was leading the market with a gain of 2%.

Enthusiasm about the economy’s possible return to normal has vaulted stocks higher this week following encouraging, but incomplete data on a potential vaccine for COVID-19. That pushed investors to shift dollars out of the old winners of the stay-at-home, virus-wracked economy and into beaten-down stocks that have a brighter future if people feel comfortable again going outside their homes.

Big Tech stocks had borne the brunt of this week’s dramatic reordering, but they clawed back some of those earlier losses. Microsoft rose 3%, erasing its loss for the week, for example. Amazon gained 3.1% to pare its weekly loss.

Elsewhere in the market, some of the massive rotation that swept through early this week also eased off the accelerator. The S&P 500 was nearly evenly split between stocks rising and falling, while energy and bank stocks gave back a bit of their huge gains from Monday and Tuesday.