S&P 500 scales to fresh record on Wednesday: Live updates

Stocks were little changed on Wednesday, but the S&P 500 managed to climb to a fresh intraday record.

The S&P 500 ticked up 0.06%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.07%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 151 points, or 0.3%.

Home Depot and Sherwin-Williams led the Dow declines, dropping more than 1% each. Materials were the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500, losing 1%. The S&P 500 energy sector bucked the trend with a gain of 1.4%.

The broad market index on Tuesday climbed to an all-time high, even as concerns around sticky inflation and President Donald Trump’s trade policies persist. The benchmark hit an intraday record of 6,129.63 and earned a record close at 6,129.58.

Trump on Tuesday floated the notion of imposing a 25% tariff on imported autos, chips and pharmaceuticals. Trump did not specify whether or not the potential duties would be targeted or broad, but did say they could be implemented as soon as April 2.

“I think there’s a lot of noise tied to DOGE, Elon Musk and tariffs in the short-term, which is what you’re seeing today. And I think a lot of this stuff will linger,” said Jim Elios, founder and chief investment officer at Elios Financial Group. “It’s the Trump effect with headlines that are weighing on markets and causing some pain. In the long-term, I’m still really bullish about how this can become a pro-business environment.”

Investors will look through the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting, set for release at 2 p.m. ET. The Fed kept rates unchanged but expressed concern over the U.S. inflation outlook.

“The stock market’s resiliency has been impressive year-to-date as investors refuse to ‘back down’ in the face of rising negative sentiment and concerns about tariff and inflation headlines,” Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, said in a Tuesday note. “We expect market conditions to remain choppy as investors rotate ‘down-cap’ amid declining Treasury yields, weakening crude oil, and a pullback in the U.S. dollar.”