Dow squeaks out 6th record high, S&P 500 falls

US stocks closed mostly lower Tuesday in quiet trade, but the Dow squeezed out a sixth straight day of record-high closings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 2.77 points (0.02 per cent) to 14,450.06, an all-time peak. The broad-market S&P 500 fell 3.74 points (0.24 per cent) to 1,552.48, snapping a seven-session winning streak. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.55 points (0.32 per cent) to 3,242.32. "The record-breaking winning streak for the Dow continued, eking out a very modest gain, while technology stocks kept the other major indexes lower," Charles Schwab & Co. said in a market note. But stocks overall remained "close to the flatline, as the markets lacked any hint of a catalyst from either the economic and equity fronts." The Dow kept up its eight-day winning streak lifted by a 3.2 per cent rise in the shares of pharmaceutical giant Merck after it won regulatory approval to continue its clinical study of the cholesterol drug Vytorin. Also helping the blue-chip index was Boeing, up 1.5 per cent amid reports Irish airline Ryanair will announce an US$18 billion order for up to 200 aircraft. Dow oil major Chevron slipped 0.4 per cent after saying it was on track to meet its target for a large increase in oil and natural gas output in 2017. Tech heavyweight Apple tumbled 2.2 per cent to US$428.43 after a price target cut from analyst Jefferies, to US$420. Google dropped 0.9 per cent after agreeing to pay a US$7 million fine to settle a US Wi-Fi privacy lawsuit. Hewlett-Packard shed 1.8 per cent. BlackBerry gave back 2.9 per cent from Monday's 14.1 per cent gain after it announced the US launch date for its new Z10 smartphone, March 22. Yum Brands gained 1.3 perc ent after the restaurant giant reported same-store sales fell about 2.0 per cent in China in February, not as much as analysts expected. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.02 per cent from 2.06 per cent late Monday, while the 30-year yield dropped to 3.22 per cent from 3.25 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.