U.S. stocks end nearly flat at early close for Christmas holiday

Major U.S. stock indexes ended nearly flat Tuesday after an abbreviated trading session ahead of Christmas Day.

The Nasdaq composite eked out a tiny gain, extending the index’s winning streak to 10 days and nudging it to a record high for the seventh day in a row. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with tiny losses.

Industrial, health care and communication services stocks were the biggest losers Tuesday. Those losses outweighed gains in banks, technology stocks and elsewhere in the market.

Trading was lighter than usual during the half day that U.S. markets were open. They are closed on Wednesday for the holiday.

“It’s normal to see profittaking and we’re seeing a little bit of that,“said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “And that’s to be expected in a market that’s moved fast, quickly and up only in one direction.”

The S&P 500 slipped 0.63 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 3,223.38. The drop snapped a threeday winning streak for the index, which hit an alltime high Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 36.08 points, or 0.1 percent, to 28,515.45. The Nasdaq composite recovered from an early slide, gaining 7.24 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,952.88.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks fared better than the rest of the market, adding 3.87 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,678.01.

Bond prices rose. The 10year Treasury yield slipped to 1.90 percent from 1.93 percent late Monday.