Stock averages finish flat to positive owed to a late-session run that capped a day marked largely by profit-taking. The Dow's slim gain was enough to stretch its win streak to seven sessions.
Positive reports on new-home sales and factory orders offered support to the broader stock market but failed to inspire a fresh run at new highs. Stock averages hit their best levels of the year Tuesday and the broad S&P 500 is up nearly 50% since the 12-year lows hit in March.
Tech and financial shares were mixed. Energy issues declined. Retailers were mostly higher as many sector earnings results continue to show improvement.
Economic news did offer support to other recent news in support of a modest economic recovery. The Commerce Department said new home sales rose 9.6 percent in July for the fourth straight monthly increase. Sales rose to 433,000, the strongest pace since September and well above the 390,000 figure economists expected, the AP said.
A recovery in the housing market was just what investors were looking for to push stocks higher in step with evidence of improving consumer sentiment and employment, which sent stocks to fresh 2009 highs yesterday. However, some analysts say more positive data are likely to be needed to form a sustainable stock rally able to push through bouts of profit taking.
Separately, the Commerce Department said orders for goods expected to last at least three years rose 4.9 percent in July -- the biggest jump in two years and more than the 3 percent increase economists had expected. Volatile airline orders plumped up July's figure.
October crude fell $0.62, or 0.9%, to end at $71.43 a barrel, after falling as low as $70.67. The loss builds on the 3% drop recorded Tuesday after oil cleared $75 earlier this week for the first time in 10 months.
The federal Energy Information Administration reported a 200,000 barrel gain in crude inventories, compared with a drop of 2.7 million barrels projected by analysts surveyed by Platts for the week ended Aug. 21. Gasoline inventories fell 1.7 million barrels nearly matching analysts' call for a 1.5 million barrel decrease, but distillate inventories rose by 800,000 barrels compared with a projected decrease of 700,000 barrels.
December gold settled at $945.80 an ounce, down 20 cents, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell as low as $941.20 earlier.
As for individual movers, Williams-Sonoma (WSM) jumped after it reported Q2 non-GAAP EPS of $0.05 vs $0.09 in the year-ago quarter and better than the Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate for a loss of $0.09. Revenue fell 18% to $672 million. The Street looks for $658.3 million. Same-store sales fell 15.3%. Revenue guidance straddles the Street view.
