Money | stock market Energy Slump Pulls Stock Market Lower Home improvement retailers also had a bad day By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 6, 2017 3:26 PM CST Copied Trader James Riley works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Stocks closed mostly lower after an up-and-down day of trading as energy companies and retailers dragged the market down, the AP reports. A steep drop in the price of oil Wednesday pulled the energy sector lower. Devon Energy slumped 3.9%. Benchmark US crude fell 2.9%. Home improvement retailers did poorly. Lowe's sank 4.5% and Home Depot gave back 1.1%. Several big tech companies rose. Facebook climbed 1.9% and Microsoft increased 1.5%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell a fraction of a point to 2,629. The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 39 points, or 0.2%, to 24,140. The Nasdaq composite added 14 points, or 0.2%, to 6,776. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.32%. Read These Next Two state troopers were shot in Pennsylvania Kelly Clarkson's ex died a day after she disclosed he was ill. Something James Carville said made Melania Trump's lawyer unhappy. JD Vance in hot water over birthday boating trip. Report an error