NEW YORK — Stocks ended the next-to-last day of 2009 little changed as welcome news on manufacturing helped offset a drop in commodities prices.
The market drew support Wednesday from a key economic indicator that signaled growth in Midwest manufacturing for a third straight month. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index rose to 60 in December from 56.1 in November. The report found that production and new orders increased and employment improved.
A rising dollar and light volume held the market’s gains in check. A rise in the dollar makes commodities, and thus the shares of companies that produce commodities, less attractive to foreign buyers. It also hurts the profits of companies that do business overseas.
Some investors have been buying the dollar in recent weeks on the belief the economy is improving and the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next year. That buying interest comes after a months- long slide in the greenback.
Rock-bottom interest rates have encouraged investors this year to move out of cash and into riskier assets such as stocks and commodities that have the potential to earn bigger returns.
After a 24.7 percent rise in the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index this year, many investors have closed their books and are making few moves ahead of the start of 2010.
The Dow Jones industrial average ticked up 3.10, or less than 0.1 percent, to 10,548.51, its highest close since Oct. 1, 2008.
