S&P 500, Dow set records again

Banks and industrial companies helped lift stocks on Wall Street mostly higher Wednesday, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Dow Jones industrial average past the record highs they set a day earlier.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% after another wobbly day of trading. Nearly threefourths of the companies in the benchmark index notched gains, including energy companies, which rose along with the price of crude oil. Healthcare was the only sector to fall.

After a stumbling start to the week, stocks have moved higher on the back of strong earnings and better-thanforecast economic data.

Traders got a dose of decent economic news Wednesday when the Labor Department said that consumer prices rose 0.5% from June to July, down from the previous monthly increase of 0.9%. Year over year, consumer prices have increased a substantial 5.4%.

Investors’ relief that the data didn’t show a bigger increase in inflation may have kept stock prices moving higher, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

“Our estimate was that June was going to be the peak month in inflation, and it appears that it was,” Stovall said.

The S&P 500 index rose 10.95 points to 4,447.70. The Dow gained 220.30 points, or 0.6%, to close at 35,484.97. Both indexes also set records Friday and Tuesday.

Weakness in some technology stocks helped pull the Nasdaq composite slightly lower. It fell 22.95 points, or 0.2%, to 14,765.14.

Smaller-company stocks rose. The Russell 2000 index picked up 10.98 points, or 0.5%, to end at 2,250.34.

Bond yields mostly edged lower. After reaching 1.36% in the early going, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.33% from 1.34% late Tuesday.

In other news, the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 13 will begin requiring that anyone entering its trading floor show proof that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to an email obtained by the Associated Press.

Individuals granted an exception because of medical or religious reasons will be required to show they tested negative for the virus three times a week.