Weak U.S. retail sales data helped set the stage Wednesday for a listless day of trading on Wall Street.
Coming off a two-day losing streak, the major stock indexes spent much of the day drifting between small gains and losses before ending mostly lower.
Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers, sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slightly higher. The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index notched their third straight loss. The price of U.S. oil fell.
In addition to corporate deals and earnings news, traders had their eye on the Commerce Department's latest monthly snapshot of retail sales. The report, a bellwether for consumer spending, showed retail sales were essentially flat in April, falling short of Wall Street's forecasts. All told, retail sales have risen just 0.9 percent over the past 12 months.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.74 points, or 0.04 percent, to 18,060.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 0.64 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,098.48. The Nasdaq composite added 5.50 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,981.69.
The indexes are up for the month and year.
The markets barely budged from the get-go on Wednesday, absent the global bond market sell-off that rattled investors a day earlier. After a brief dip, bond prices rose, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury note up to 2.28 percent from 2.25 percent late Tuesday.