Investing.com - Stocks struggled for most of the day until a late round of buying offset rising interest rates and weakness in big tech stocks.
The S&P 500 turned a small loss into a 1-point gain, or 0.03%. The Dow Jones industrials rose 0.3%, or 74 points.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.04%. The Nasdaq 100 index dropped 0.23% in part because of Apple's announcement of pricing for its new TV streaming and game services. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), and Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), which isn't a part of the Nasdaq-100 index, were all lower.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) moved up about 1.2%, adding 9.7 points to the Nasdaq-100's performance on the day and 17 points to the Dow, sixth most among the 30 stocks in the index. Boeing (NYSE:BA), up 3%, added 72.6 points by itself.
Chemical maker Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), Boeing and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) were the biggest Dow gainers. McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Visa (NYSE:V) and Disney were the weakest Dow stocks on the day.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) were all lower and contributed 23 points of losses to the Nasdaq-100, which closed down 17.7 points.
Starbucks fell on reports of an SEC dispute with some of its accounting practices. Expanded disclosures will be included in its next earnings report.
Interest rates moved higher, with the 10-Year Treasury yield reaching 1.718%, up from Monday's 1.622%. The 2-Year yield ended at 1.682%, up from 1.575% on Monday. The gains for both weighed on markets for most of the day, although investors bid bank stocks higher.
Oil prices dropped after President Donald Trump said he'd fired John Bolton as National Security Advisor. (Bolton, known for favoring direct intervention in Iran and other hot spots, insisted he quit.) Investors sold oil on the assumption that Bolton's departure reduces the potential of new U.S. military action in the Middle East.
West Texas Intermediate crude was down 45 cents to $57.40 a barrel after four-straight days of gains. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was off 21 cents to $62.38.
Real-estate, consumer staples and technology shares were among the market's weakest sectors. Industrial, energy, materials and telecom stocks were leaders.
Biopharmaceutical company Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR), money manager State Street (NYSE:STT) and engineering-firm Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR) were among the top S&P 500 performers.
MarketAxess Holdings (NASDAQ:MKTX), operator of an electronic trading platform, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) and CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), operators of some of the largest U.S. futures exchanges, were among the weakest S&P 500 performers.