Dow deflates, now 180 points from magic 20,000 milestone
NEW YORK — Banks led stocks slightly lower Thursday as the Dow slipped further from the 20,000 mark.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished less than 0.1% lower, down 13 points and 180 short of 20,000.
Markets, slightly up in the morning, basically languished all day — even after the mid-afternoon news that the Obama administration is giving 35 Russian diplomats the boot. The president's team responded to evidence that Russia hacked Democratic Party officials during this year's presidential election, touching off an extraordinary tweet from Russian officials in London taunting Obama as a lame duck.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 ended fractionally lower, while the Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1%.
Utilities and real estate stocks rose, while U.S. crude oil prices fell 29 cents to $53.75 a barrel. Newmont Mining (NEM) jumped 7.6%.
Sears Holdings (SHLD) jumped 10% after the struggling retailer said it had secured a new line of credit.
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Trading was light on the next-to-last session of 2016 and ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.46%.