With small gains, stocks set a record
NEW YORK - U.S. stock indexes finished with small gains Wednesday as video-game makers gave technology companies a boost and household goods companies also rose. However a recent decline in interest rates continued to put pressure on banks.
NEW YORK - U.S. stock indexes finished with small gains Wednesday as video-game makers gave technology companies a boost and household goods companies also rose. However a recent decline in interest rates continued to put pressure on banks.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.74 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,594.38. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 6.13 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 23,563.36. The Nasdaq composite rose 21.34 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,789.12. All three closed at record highs. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 2.64 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,481.73.
Technology companies have climbed almost 40 percent in the last 12 months, including Wednesday's gains. Take-Two jumped after its second-quarter revenue blew past Wall Street's estimates. Analysts said its revenue from online games and digital spending was better than expected. The stock soared $11.26, or 10.6 percent, to $117.65. Activision Blizzard surged $3.59, or 5.9 percent, to $64.44 after it said revenue for Call of Duty: WWII topped $500 million in its opening weekend.
Bank of America fell 39 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $26.79 and Comerica shed $1.02, or 1.3 percent, to $76.14. Still, banks are trading around their highest levels in a decade.
Time Warner Cable slumped after AT&T said it doesn't know when its purchase of the media company will close. Reports from the New York Times, CNN and other outlets, citing unidentified people, said the Justice Department wants to require the companies to sell Turner Broadcasting, which includes CNN, TBS and TNT, or else sell satellite TV provider DirecTV, which AT&T bought in 2015. Time Warner Cable has slumped over the last month as investors wonder whether the $85 billion deal would still happen.
On Wednesday Time Warner Cable slid $6.16, or 6.5 percent, to $88.50 and AT&T rose 37 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $33.44.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 39 cents to $56.81 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dipped 20 cents to $63.49 a barrel in London.
Gold rose $7.90 to $1,283.70 an ounce. Silver jumped 20 cents to $17.14 an ounce. Copper rose 1 cent to $3.10 a pound.
The dollar fell to 113.78 yen from 113.87 yen. The euro rose to $1.1596 from $1.1589.