Stocks were largely unchanged on Wednesday amid a shortened week of trading as few major catalysts drove the market action.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) neared an all-time high record close of 4,796 on Wednesday. The benchmark average and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) hovered just below the flatline on Wednesday while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced about 0.2%.
Stocks were looking to extend two months of gains. The S&P 500 is headed for its ninth straight week of gains, which would mark its best run since 2004. The major average has gained nearly 13% since Nov. 1.
The surge higher in stocks over the past two months has come as investors have increased bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in March and inflation falls closer to the central bank’s 2% target with few signs that the US economy is set for a full-on slowdown.
The news flow so far this week has done little to change that narrative as equity prices have drifted higher.
In individual stock moves, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were modestly lower as the New York Times (NYT) sued the technology and OpenAI for copyright infringement. The newspaper chain claims Microsoft and OpenAI abused the Times’ intellectual property.
Treasury yields continued to hover near levels not seen since July. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) fell four basis points to 3.84% on Wednesday.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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