Wall Street drifts to a mixed close, holding near record levels

People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in New York. Global shares are mixed in muted trading as optimism set off by a record rally on Wall Street gradually ran out of momentum. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish Wednesday, as a lull carried through financial markets worldwide.

The S&P 500 slipped 9.96 points, or 0.2 percent, from its all-time high set a day before to 5,165.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.83, or 0.1 percent, to 39,043.32 and pulled within 90 points of its record set last month. The Nasdaq composite dipped 87.87, or 0.5 percent, to 16,177.77.

The bond market was also relatively quiet, with Treasury yields ticking higher, while stock markets abroad were mixed after making mostly modest moves.

The biggest action may have been in the oil market, where a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude climbed $2.16 to settle at $79.72. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $2.11 to $84.03 per barrel.

Oil prices have been on a general upswing so far this year, which has helped keep inflation a bit higher than economists expected. That higher inflation has in turn dashed Wall Street’s hopes that the Federal Reserve could start offering relief at its meeting next week by cutting interest rates.

Fed rate cut bets

But the expectation is still for the Fed to begin cutting rates in June because the longer-term trend for inflation seems to remain downward.

The Fed’s main interest rate is at its highest level since 2001, and reductions would release pressure on the economy and financial system. Stocks have already rallied in part on expectations for such cuts.

READ: Fed seen cutting US rates in June, risks skewed toward later move

Their nearly nonstop run since late October, though, has raised criticism that it was overdone. The U.S. stock market was recently looking more expensive than it has in 99 percent of its history by a measure that looks at prices versus long-term earnings for companies, according to Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of GMO.

The famed investor, who has a reputation for being cautious but also correctly predicted the popping of prior bubbles, says the long-run prospects for the broad U.S. market “look as poor as almost any other time in history.”

“The simple rule is you can’t get blood out of a stone,” he wrote in a recent report. “If you double the price of an asset, you halve its future return.”

On Wall Street, where the S&P 500 has jumped 44 percent since hitting a bottom in 2022, Dollar Tree tumbled 14.2 percent after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Traffic increased at its stores, but it said customers bought less at each purchase than they did a year ago. The company also said it will close about 600 of its Family Dollar stores in the six months through early August.

Top gainers

On the winning side of Wall Street was Williams-Sonoma, which jumped 17.8 percent. The company, which also runs Pottery Barn and West Elm stores, increased its dividend 26 percent and announced a new authorization to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock. It also delivered a stronger profit for its latest quarter than analysts expected, despite the drag of a slower housing market.

Stocks of energy producers were also strong, benefiting from the rise in oil prices. Those in the S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent for the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index.

READ: Wall Street stocks rise as traders shake off uptick in inflation

Valero Energy climbed 5.2 percent, and Marathon Petroleum added 3.1 percent. A 1.1-percent rise for Exxon Mobil was one of the stronger forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.

A majority of stocks in the S&P 500 ended up rising, but the index was weighed down by losses from some Big Tech behemoths and other influential members. Nvidia slipped 1.1 percent and was one of the strongest forces pulling the S&P 500 lower.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.18 percent from 4.15 percent late Tuesday. It helps set rates for mortgages and loans for all kinds of companies and other borrowers.

The two-year Treasury yield also climbed. It more closely follows expectations for the Fed, and it rose to 4.62 percent from 4.58 percent late Tuesday and from 4.20 percent at the start of February. It had earlier dropped on strong expectations for coming cuts to interest rates by the Fed.

In stock markets abroad, indexes made mostly modest moves across Europe and Asia. Stocks rose 0.6 percent in Paris and 0.4 percent in Seoul but slipped 0.4 percent in Shanghai.