US stocks flat a day after Dow tops 12,000

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended Wednesday mixed, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed at its highest level in 2-1/2 years.

The Dow rose 1.81 points to close at 12,041.97.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 3.56 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,304.03. Nine of its 10 company groups fell. Financial companies had the largest fall of any group, dropping 0.9 percent.

The Dow traded in a tight range throughout the day as investors weighed the impact of unrest in Egypt against better-than-expected news on the job market.

“The market seems to be catching its breath after that strong run Tuesday,” said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist for RidgeWorth Investments.

Traders’ television screens were filled with scenes of fighting in Egypt between groups that support President Hosni Mubarak and those who are calling for his ouster. Mubarak vowed Tuesday that he will not run for president in September but did not say he would take any steps to leave office before then.

Egypt is not a major producer of oil but controls the Suez Canal, a key shipping lane in the global oil business. Oil prices fluctuated throughout the day as traders balanced the clashes in Egypt with a report that fuel supplies were growing in the US Oil settled nine cents higher at $90.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Nasdaq composite lost 1.63 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,749.56.

Early Wednesday, payroll processor ADP said that private companies added more jobs in January than analysts predicted. That’s a hopeful sign for the Labor Department’s monthly employment report, due out Friday. Economists expect the government to say the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent in January from 9.4 percent the previous month.

Time Warner Inc. rose almost nine percent after the owner of Warner Bros., HBO and CNN said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 22 percent. The company also raised its 2011 forecasts.