Stocks give up an early gain, edge lower at midday

2/12/2014

NEW YORK — An early gain for U.S. stocks was gone by midday as the market turned mostly lower after a weeklong rally.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell two points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,817 as of noon today.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,944. It was up as much as 42 points earlier. The Nasdaq composite was flat at 4,193.

Stocks rose sharply on Tuesday after Janet Yellen, the new head of the Federal Reserve, said she would continue the central bank’s low interest-rate policies.

Tobacco company Lorillard fell 6 percent, the most in the S&P 500 index, after missing analysts’ estimates for income and revenue. Sales of Lorillard’s Newport cigarettes rose less than 1 percent in the last quarter.