Energy companies led U.S. stocks modestly higher Wednesday, nudging the Nasdaq composite to its fifth record-high close in a row.
Rising crude oil prices gave energy companies a boost, including oil rig operator Transocean, which rose 4 percent. Traders also bid up shares in utilities.
Health care stocks fell after President-elect Donald Trump spoke about the need for the government to stem drug costs by creating new bidding procedures. Pharmaceutical company Endo International led the decliners in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, sliding 8.5 percent.
The stock market spent much of the day wavering between small gains and losses as investors sized up outlooks from several companies ahead of the latest batch of corporate earnings reports.
"The heavy load comes in the coming weeks," said Tim Dreiling, regional investment director for U.S. Bank's Private Client Reserve. "There's a little bit of a wait-and-see on what those earnings numbers look like."
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 98.75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 19,954.28. The S&P 500 index added 6.42 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,275.32. The Nasdaq gained 11.83 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,563.65. The index has risen every day this year.