NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes closed slightly lower Wednesday, stabilizing a day after their biggest sell-off in two months.
With no obvious catalyst pushing them either way, indexes spent most of the day wavering between slight gains and losses. Investors are waiting for clues from a Federal Reserve meeting next Wednesday as to when it might start increasing interest rates. The prospect of higher rates and a surge in the dollar have been weighing on markets since indexes hit record highs last week.
Stocks rose at the opening of trading and, until about an hour before the close, were holding their gains. The losses at the end were tiny, and energy and financial companies managed to rally.
“Investors are reassessing whether yesterday’s sell-off made sense,” said David Lefkowitz, senior stock strategist at UBS. “We still like stocks.”
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 27.55 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 17,635.39. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 3.92 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,040.24. Both indexes are down now about 1 percent in 2015.
The Nasdaq composite fell 9.85 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,849.94. The Nasdaq is up 2.4 percent this year.
The odds that the Fed will raise rates appeared to rise Friday after the U.S. government reported a burst in hiring last month. A rate increase would be the first in nine years. Low rates and other monetary stimulus have helped the S&P 500 triple in price since the bull market began six years ago.
A U.S. interest rate rise would come as Japan and Europe are struggling to grow and as China’s expansion slows.
