NEW YORK—Stocks finished Tuesday’s session mostly flat as the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down slightly, by 0.03 percent, while the broader S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq saw small gains.
The Dow ended at 10,969.99, while the S&P 500 gained 1.99 points to settle at 1,189.43. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 7.28 points to end at 2,436.81.
The Dow rallied in the afternoon, buoyed by financial stocks and minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting, but the optimism was tempered late in the afternoon after Dow component and insurance giant Travelers saw its shares decline as Sandler O’Neill downgraded its stock. Another Dow component, telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc., saw its stock drop on Tuesday after its CEO saw little reason to seek a merger with U.K.’s Vodafone Group Plc.
The Fed minutes released at 2 p.m. revealed that the U.S. central bank was more optimistic regarding the state of the U.S. economy and affirmed its intention to keep interest rates at historically low levels.
Investors in general were largely on the sidelines awaiting the first wave of first-quarter earnings releases next week.
The Dow ended at 10,969.99, while the S&P 500 gained 1.99 points to settle at 1,189.43. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 7.28 points to end at 2,436.81.
The Dow rallied in the afternoon, buoyed by financial stocks and minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting, but the optimism was tempered late in the afternoon after Dow component and insurance giant Travelers saw its shares decline as Sandler O’Neill downgraded its stock. Another Dow component, telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc., saw its stock drop on Tuesday after its CEO saw little reason to seek a merger with U.K.’s Vodafone Group Plc.
The Fed minutes released at 2 p.m. revealed that the U.S. central bank was more optimistic regarding the state of the U.S. economy and affirmed its intention to keep interest rates at historically low levels.
Investors in general were largely on the sidelines awaiting the first wave of first-quarter earnings releases next week.
