Stocks Mostly Lower, Dow with Small Gains

Stocks have ended pretty much where they started on Wall Street, a day after the market had its biggest gain of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average eked out an increase of 16.42 points, its sixth consecutive day of gains. The Dow ended at 13,194.10, a gain of 0.1 percent.

It was the longest winning stretch for the Dow since February 2011, but that was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise glum day on the stock market.

American Express led the Dow higher with a 3 percent advance. The credit card company said it would increase its dividend and buy back up to $5 billion of its own stock after passing the Federal Reserve's stress test.

The Standard & Poor's 500 edged down less than two points to 1,394. The Nasdaq composite inched up just under a point to end at 3,041. The Nasdaq closed above 3,000 on Tuesday for the first time since December 2000.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)