Stocks end wobbly day mostly lower; natural gas prices surge

Associated Press | Tuesday, February 16, 2021 2:04 p.m.

New York Stock Exchange via AP

Trader Fred DeMarco, left, works on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Tuesday.

Stocks ended a tentative day of trading with mixed results as gains for energy companies and banks were offset by losses in other sectors.

The S&P 500 ended down less than 0.1% Tuesday, and the Nasdaq lost 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to eke out another record high with a gain of 0.2%.

Natural gas prices jumped 7.5% to their highest level since November as a wave of extremely cold weather hit large parts of the U.S. Treasury yields continued to climb, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note up to 1.29%, the highest level in a year.