How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 4/3/2024

Stocks closed mostly higher, as Wall Street steadied itself following its worst day in weeks.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% Wednesday, clawing back a bit of its loss from the prior day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%.

Treasury yields eased after a report said growth for U.S. services businesses cooled last month. That could keep the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates several times this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said again that the Fed will cut after getting more confirmation that inflation is heading down.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 rose 5.68 points, or 0.1%, to 5,211.49.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 43.10 points, or 0.1%, to 39,127.14.

The Nasdaq composite rose 37.01 points, or 0.2%, to 16,277.46.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 11.17 points, or 0.5%, to 2,076.20.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 42.86 points, or 0.8%.

The Dow is down 680.23 points, or 1.7%.

The Nasdaq is down 102 points, or 0.6%.

The Russell 2000 is down 48.34 points, or 2.3%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 441.66 points, or 9.3%.

The Dow is up 1,437.60 points, or 3.8%.

The Nasdaq is up 1,266.11 points, or 8.4%.

The Russell 2000 is up 49.13 points, or 2.4%.