WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks initially extended the rally seen to start the week early in the session on Wednesday before giving back ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back off their early highs, eventually ending the day narrowly mixed.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 61.02 points or 0.3 percent to a new four-month closing high of 19,973.55, the S&P 500 edge down 0.02 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,092.16 and the Dow slipped 106.59 points or 0.3 percent to 42,982.43.
The initial strength on Wall Street partly reflected recent upward momentum, which saw stocks move sharply higher over the two previous sessions.
Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders continue to monitor developments in the Middle East following yesterday's news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
The subsequent pullback by the markets may have reflected profit taking after the major averages reached their highest intraday levels in four months.
The strong upward moves seen on Monday and Tuesday also lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 back within striking distance of their record highs.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in the month of May.
The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 13.7 percent to an annual rate of 623,000 in May after spiking by 9.6 percent to a revised rate of 722,000 in April.
Economists had expected new home sales to tumble by 7.1 to an annual rate of 690,000 from the 743,000 originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Commercial real estate stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index down by 2.4 percent.
Considerable weakness was also visible among housing stocks following the new home sales data, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index slumping by 1.9 percent.
Oil service, airline and natural gas stocks also saw notable weakness, while strength among networking stocks contributed to the uptick by the Nasdaq.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.8 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the session roughly flat. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, ended the day unchanged at 4.293 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Thursday may be impacted by reaction to the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and pending home sales.
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