Stocks end mixed as Nasdaq hits new high

Stocks ended mixed Tuesday as the Nasdaq rose for a sixth straight day to a new all-time high.

The Dow Jones industrial average, down 0.2%, slipped 32 points further from the never-reached 20,000 milestone, settling at 19,855.53.

Climbing 0.4% was the Nasdaq composite, up 20 points to its new closing high of 5551.82.

Interestingly enough, in the manner of a tossed coin landing on its edge, the S&P 500 finished exactly flat.

Optimism is not sign of bull market’s demise

Oil prices gave up early gains and turned lower as U.S. benchmark crude dropped 1.4% to $51.30 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It fell $2.03 on Monday.

Bond prices were little changed as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.37%.

Yahoo rose 1.8% after the internet pioneer said it plans to change its name to Altaba and announced that six of its 11 directors will resign from the board, including CEO Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo. The moves assume the sale of Yahoo’s internet business to Verizon will go through and reflect how the rest of Yahoo will become a holding company for investments in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was up 0.2%, while the CAC 40 of France was 0.1% lower. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.6%, pushing further into record territory as it benefits from a drop in the pound. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.8%, while the Kospi in South Korea slipped 0.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.8%.

The pound fell to $1.2159 from $1.2163 amid signs the British government may opt for a full break away from the European Union’s single market. The dollar fell to 115.61 yen from 116.06 in late trading Monday. The euro rose to $1.0594 from $1.0577.