NEW YORK — Stocks barely budged Wednesday, letting investors hold on to their gains from a big opening to the year a day earlier.
Strong December sales boosted carmakers and specialty retailers. Banks, health-care companies and utilities fell slightly. But nothing moved much.
The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 21.04 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 12,418.42. The Dow on Tuesday opened the year with a 180-point gain, which brought it to its highest level since July.
“It’s healthy to see (a day like Wednesday) after a big rally,” said Randy Warren, chief investment officer for Warren Financial Service. “People need to sit back and think about it.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite were nearly flat. The S&P inched up 0.24 to close at 1,277.30. The Nasdaq fell 0.36 to 2,648.36.
Specialty stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond rose on a report that mall shopping was strong in the week after Christmas. Retailing-industry stocks rose 0.8 percent. A trade group estimated after- Christmas sales rose 5.3 percent compared with a year ago. Bed Bath & Beyond rose 1.8 percent, and clothing discounter Ross rose 0.7 percent.
Big-box retailers fell. Analysts have been concerned that some stores raised holiday sales with deep discounts that will hurt profits. Wal-Mart fell 1.1 percent, making it the second-biggest decliner among the Dow’s 30 stocks. Target fell 2.2 percent, and Kohl’s fell 1.4 percent.
Automakers delivered a strong end to 2011. Analysts had been expecting December to be a strong sales month for cars on the theory that more confidence in the economy would unlock pent-up demand. Ford rose 1.5 percent and General Motors rose 0.5 percent after those two companies and Chrysler reported strong increases in December and full-year sales.
Visa fell 1.8 percent, and MasterCard fell 3.3 percent. Janney analysts downgraded both to “neutral” from “buy” and predicted that U.S. consumers will continue to reduce debt.
Ryan Detrick, senior technical analyst with Schaeffer’s Investment Research, said it’s good to see stock prices hold on to gains after a strong start to the year Tuesday.
“At least thus far in 2012, we haven’t followed the path of 2011, where if it’s a good day, there’s a bad day right away,” he said. “The recent trend is clearly to give back what you get just as fast.”
