How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 12/6/2023

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street after another sharp slide for the price of crude dragged down big oil-and-gas stocks.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Wednesday for its third straight loss, locking in its longest losing streak since October. Each of those drops was modest, though, and the index remains near its highest level in 20 months.

The Dow fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq lost 0.6%.

Energy stocks had the worst drops by far after the price of crude oil sank more than 4%, touching its lowest level since June. Marathon Petroleum fell 3.9%.

Treasury yields fell.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 fell 17.84 points, or 0.4%, to 4,549.34

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 70.13 points, or 0.2%, to 36,054.43.

The Nasdaq composite fell 83.20 points, or 0.6%, to 14,146.71.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.99 points, or 0.2% to 1,852.05.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 45.29 points, or 1%.

The Dow is down 191.07 points, or 0.5%.

The Nasdaq is down 158.32 points, or 1.1%.

The Russell 2000 is down 10.59 points, or 0.6%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 709.84 points, or 18.5%.

The Dow is up 2,907.18 points, or 8.8%.

The Nasdaq is up 3,680.23 points, or 35.2%.

The Russell 2000 is up 90.80 points, or 5.2%.