S&P 500 clings to a gain as other indexes end mixed

Wall Street capped a wobbly day of trading Wednesday with a mixed finish for the major stock indexes, as technology and communication companies weighed on the market for a second straight day.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent after shedding most of a 0.8 percent gain. The modest gain came a day after the benchmark index posted its worst drop since May. The index is on pace for its first first monthly loss since January.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also lost momentum as the day went on, but managed a 0.3 percent gain, while the techheavy Nasdaq composite gave back 0.2 percent after having been up 0.9 percent in the early going.

Bond yields stabilized after surging over the past week and weighing on the market, especially technology stocks. The higher yields have forced investors to reassess whether prices have run too high for stocks, because it makes them look expensive by comparison.

The broader market has lost ground in September, leaving the S&P 500 down 3.6 percent for the month with one day left to go. Investors have spent much of the month reviewing a mixed batch of economic data that showed COVID-19 and the highly contagious delta variant’s impact.

The S&P 500 rose 6.83 points to 4,359.46. The Dow gained 90.73 points to 34,390.72, while the Nasdaq fell 34.24 points to 14,512.44. The Russell 2000 index of small companies also fell, shedding 4.47 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,225.31. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is used to set interest rates on many kinds of loans, held at 1.53 percent.