Money | stock market Energy Slump Pulls Stock Market Lower Home improvement retailers also had a bad day By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 6, 2017 3:26 PM CST Copied Trader James Riley works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Stocks closed mostly lower after an up-and-down day of trading as energy companies and retailers dragged the market down, the AP reports. A steep drop in the price of oil Wednesday pulled the energy sector lower. Devon Energy slumped 3.9%. Benchmark US crude fell 2.9%. Home improvement retailers did poorly. Lowe's sank 4.5% and Home Depot gave back 1.1%. Several big tech companies rose. Facebook climbed 1.9% and Microsoft increased 1.5%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell a fraction of a point to 2,629. The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 39 points, or 0.2%, to 24,140. The Nasdaq composite added 14 points, or 0.2%, to 6,776. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.32%. Read These Next A government shutdown could mean permanent layoffs. FCC chief gets crushed by cat litter in new South Park. Judge demands answers from Trump administration on Mangione comments. James Comey says go ahead, bring on his trial. Report an error