Stocks slip as oil climbs and energy leads: Wednesday recap

Stocks eased on Wednesday. The S&P 500 slipped 0.12% to close at 7,498.96, and the Nasdaq gave up 0.51% to finish at 25,690.90. The Dow held its ground, ending all but flat at 52,218.58, off 0.01%. The headline index moves were small, though the picture below the surface was more active.

The action was in the sectors that track commodities. Utilities led the day with a 2.25% gain, and materials rose 1.44%. Energy climbed 1.20% as crude prices jumped, extending a run that leaves the sector up 4.78% over the past week, the best of any group. The tilt was defensive. Consumer staples added 0.38% and industrials edged up 0.11%. The laggards told the other half of the story: communication services fell 0.75% and consumer discretionary slid 0.74%, while health care eased 0.51% and technology, the market’s largest sector, dipped 0.28%. Money rotated toward the steadier corners of the market and away from the higher-growth groups.

Oil set the tone. Brent crude rose 3.4% to about $94 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate added 3% to near $87, both touching six-week highs as traders weighed the risk that Middle East tensions could pinch global supply. Higher energy costs cut two ways, lifting oil producers and refiners while pressuring the companies that pay to move goods and power operations. Investors also kept some powder dry ahead of quarterly results from Alphabet and Tesla, both due after the closing bell, with the focus on whether heavy spending on artificial intelligence is starting to show up in revenue.

Breadth leaned toward caution. The small-cap Russell 2000, tracked by the IWM exchange-traded fund, fell 0.93% and trailed the large-cap indices, a sign that buyers favored size and balance-sheet strength on the day. For the week so far, the S&P 500 is down 0.98% and the Nasdaq has slipped 1.73%, a shallow pullback on the week. The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up to 4.60%, a modest move that kept a little pressure on rate-sensitive parts of the market. The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, eased 2.4% to 16.64. That reading sits comfortably below the levels that tend to accompany real market stress, which fit a session that drifted through the afternoon.

The day had the feel of a holding pattern. Energy and defensive sectors did the lifting while growth stocks took a breather. The indices barely budged. None of the day’s numbers pointed to a decisive break in either direction, with the moves small and the volatility gauge subdued. Traders kept one eye on the price of oil and the other on the earnings calendar.

The earnings calendar stays full for the rest of the week, with more large-cap technology and industrial names on deck. Oil stays in the picture too. Crude prices are likely to hold attention as long as supply questions linger. A steady flow of economic data is on the docket as well, and investors will read each release for clues on the path of interest rates.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.