Stocks closed slightly higher at the end of Tuesday’s trading session as Wall Street enters that precarious time of year during which portfolios are balanced and numbers are crunched.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended the day a nearly imperceptible 0.01 percent higher closing at 1,802.75 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 16,072.80, and the NASDAQ jumped 0.58 percent to extend its climb to 4,017.75 points.
On the S&P 500, Sprint Nextel (S) jumped over 4 percent on heavy trading, ahead of a 2014 that is sure to see the company put up a stronger challenge to its competition than it had been capable of prior to the company’s acquisition earlier in the year by Japanese telecom firm SoftBank.
The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) was the top gainer on the Dow, up over 2 percent on a day that was generally a favorable one for retailers. Disney was followed by aerospace/defense giant Boeing (BA) , up 1.3 percent, continuing a streak that has come as a result a recent and massive increase in orders for its commercial planes.
Tech shares fared well on the NASDAQ, with substantial gains for semiconductor manufacturers Camtek (CAMT) and GigOptix (GIG) on rumors of an entrace into 3D printing and positive analyst coverage, respectively. Small drug manufacturer Echo Therapeutics (ECTE) was up almost 73 percent on news of positive trial results for its significantly less invasive Continuous Glucose Monitoring system.
