S&P 500 takes a step back after setting record

The S&P 500 pulled back from its newly set record on Wednesday after a meandering day of trading took a late turn lower.

The benchmark index fell 14.93 points, or 0.4%, to 3,374.85, a day after it wiped out the last of its losses created by the pandemic and surpassed its Feb. 19 peak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also gave up an earlier gain and lost 85.19, or 0.3%, to 27,692.88. The Nasdaq composite dropped 64.38, or 0.6%, to 11,146.46.

Indexes turned lower in the afternoon after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its latest policy meeting. The central bank has been one of the main pillars propping up the market after it slashed short-term interest rates to their record low and essentially promised to buy as many bonds as it takes to keep markets running smoothly.

The Fed’s minutes showed again that policy makers are finding it difficult to forecast the path of the economy, which will depend greatly on what happens with the virus.

Treasury yields also rose after the minutes showed, among other things, that several Fed officials said trying to set upper limits for yields beyond ultrashortterm rates would provide only a modest help. Some investors have been speculating that could be a step the Fed would take next to help the economy.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.68% from 0.67% late Tuesday. It had been as low as 0.64% earlier in the morning.

Across the stock market, momentum has largely remained solid. But it’s slowed recently after roaring back from a terrifying plummet of nearly 34% in February and March. Trading has been so tepid that it took the S&P 500 several attempts to break its record after pulling within 1% of the mark a week and a half ago.

“The elevator went down very quickly, so to speak,” Nancy Davis, chief investment officer of Quadratic Capital, said of the market’s plunge earlier this year. “And now we’ve been climbing the stairs back up, and we’re higher than we were before.”