WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after recovering from an early move to the downside. The Dow ended the day slightly higher, recording its first nine-day winning streak since November of 1996 and setting another new closing record high.
Trucking stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, resulting in a 3.8 percent gain by the Dow Jones Trucking Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in over a month.
The strength among trucking stocks reflected a rally by the transportation sector as a whole, with the Dow Jones Transportation Average advancing by 1.6 percent. The gain lifted the average to a new record closing high.
Considerable strength was also visible among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. STEC (STEC) helped to lead the sector higher, jumping by 7.9 percent.
While defense and brokerage stocks also saw notable strength, gold stocks moved sharply lower on the day. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index fell by 2.8 percent, with the weakness in the sector coming amid a modest decrease by the price of gold.
Steel stocks also came under pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 1.7 percent. Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) and AK Steel (AKS) posted notable losses.
The major averages all ended the day just above the unchanged line. The Dow inched up 5.22 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 14,455.28, the Nasdaq crept up 2.80 points or 0.1 percent to 3,245.12 and the S&P 500 edged up 2.04 points or 0.1 percent to 1,554.52.
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