Market Report

Stocks retreat from record highs

 In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo, trader John Panin works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. On Wednesday, April 24, stocks are opening slightly lower on Wall Street, a day after the S&P 500 surpassed the record high close it set in September. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo, trader John Panin works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. On Wednesday, April 24, stocks are opening slightly lower on Wall Street, a day after the S&P 500 surpassed the record high close it set in September. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

U.S. stocks closed slightly lower Wednesday as the market gave back some of its gains a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs.

The S&P 500 index fell 6.43 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,927.25. The benchmark index closed at a record high Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 59.34 points, or 0.2 percent, to 26,597.05. The Nasdaq composite lost 18.81 points, or 0.2 percent, to 8,102.01. The index was also coming off a record high close.

Small-company stocks fared better than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index picked up 3.04 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,588.13.

Energy stocks led the modest slide as crude oil prices fell after a three-day rally. Communications companies also helped pull the market lower, offsetting gains in real estate and other sectors. Bond prices rose as traders took a more defensive approach.

Stocks wavered between small gains and losses through much of the day as investors continued to wade through a steady flow of corporate earnings. Analysts have been expecting a contraction in first-quarter corporate profits, but the results so far have been mostly solid.

"The pace of earnings beats is at a very nice level, certainly exceeding diminished expectations," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager for private wealth management at U.S. Bank. "The strength of the dollar has been, perhaps, a little bit of a weight on markets today."

Despite the overall decline in the major indexes, slightly more stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Major European stock indexes finished mostly lower.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.52 percent from 2.57 percent late Tuesday.

The U.S. stock market mounted a strong recovery this year after finishing 2018 in a steep slump fueled by fears of recession, an escalating trade war between the United States and China, and concern the Federal Reserve was moving too aggressively to raise interest rates.

A little more than a quarter of S&P 500 companies have issued their first-quarter report cards so far, resulting in overall earnings growth of 2.4 percent. Still, analysts are forecasting that earnings will be down 3 percent by the time all the S&P 500 companies deliver their results. That would be the first decline since the spring of 2016.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 0.6 percent to settle at $65.89 per barrel. Oil had been climbing recently after dropping below $43 in late December. Brent crude rose 0.1 percent to $74.57 per barrel.

IRobot plunged 23.1 percent after the robotics company's revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. The company, which is best known for its robotic Roomba vacuum cleaner, beat profit forecasts for the quarter and gave investors solid guidance for the year, but it wasn't enough to overcome disappointing revenue growth.

SAP soared to a record high after activist investor Elliott Management revealed a $1.3 billion investment in the German software company on the same day SAP reported solid first-quarter results. SAP's U.S.-listed stock jumped 12.4 percent.

In other commodities trading, wholesale gasoline inched 0.1 percent lower to $2.13 per gallon. Heating oil dropped 0.9 percent to $2.10 per gallon. Natural gas gained 0.3 percent to $2.46 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,279.40 per ounce, silver added 0.8 percent to $14.92 per ounce, and copper picked up 0.6 percent to $2.91 per pound.

Information for this article was contributed by Damian J. Troise of The Associated Press.

Business on 04/25/2019

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