Stocks rise; Treasury yields’ ascent falters

Stocks notched modest gains Wednesday following another choppy day of trading on Wall Street, leaving the market near its recent record highs.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 0.2% after flipping between small gains and losses in the early going. Gains in several Big Tech companies, including Intel, Apple and Amazon, helped nudge the S&P 500 higher, even though most of the stocks in the index fell. Those gains outweighed losses in industrial, materials and other sectors.

Treasury yields stalled after rising sharply since the beginning of the year. The benchmark 10-year yield fell as concerns calmed that the Federal Reserve may curtail its purchases of Treasury securities. Expectations of higher government spending and the possibility of inflation have helped drive bond yields higher.

The S&P 500 rose 8.65 points to 3,809.84. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.22 points to 31,060.47. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 56.52 points to 13,128.95.

Markets around the world have rushed higher recently on building optimism that a healthier economy is on the way because of the rollout of coronavirus vaccines and the prospect for more stimulus from a U.S. government soon to be run by Democrats.

Some of the biggest action has been in the bond market, where expectations for increased federal borrowing, economic growth and inflation have pushed longer-term Treasury yields to their highest levels since last spring.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slowed its ascent, though, and fell to 1.10% from 1.12% late Tuesday. Analysts said statements from two Federal Reserve officials a day earlier helped to calm concerns that the central bank may curtail its purchases of Treasurys. Those purchases have helped keep rates low in hopes of boosting the economy.

Low rates have been one of the main underpinnings of the stock market’s rise to records, even as much of the economy still struggles under the worsening pandemic. The 10-year yield has been climbing, up from 0.90% on Jan. 4, the day before two runoff elections in Georgia gave control of the Senate — and thus Washington — to Democrats.

The Fed released its latest Beige Book on Wednesday. The survey of U.S. business conditions found that the bulk of the Fed’s 12 regions reported modest gains in economic activity in recent weeks.

President-elect Joe Biden is expected Thursday to release details of his plan to aid the economy. They could include bigger cash payments to most Americans.