The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq stock indices fell on Wednesday, as signs of increasingly sluggish growth in the United States and the rest of the world rattled investors.
The Dow eked out a modest gain, however, helped by a rise of 4.5% in the share price of home improvement retailers Home Depot, after its chief executive said the battered U.S. housing market's decline may be nearing an end.
General Motors Corp, another Dow component, said it thinks it has seen the bottom of the downturn in the auto industry, as well as indications that the housing market is near bottom.
Shares of wireless companies fell, weighing on the Nasdaq, after comments from mobile chipmaker Qualcomm's chief executive and JPMorgan analysts fueled concerns that the demand for cell phones is slowing.
A continued decline in the price of oil failed to spark optimism, with investors instead calling it yet another symptom of slowing global demand.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.96 points, or 0.14%, to 11,532.88, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 2.59 points, or 0.20%, to 1,274.99.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 15.51 points, or 0.66%, at 2,333.73.
The Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report that economic activity has been slow across most of the United States in recent weeks, though there has been some relief from high commodity and energy prices.
