Drop in Price of Oil Cancels Out Other Stock Gains

Major US stock indexes ended up more or less where they started on Wall Street as big drops in energy companies canceled out gains elsewhere in the market, the AP reports. Energy companies posted sharp losses on Thursday after the price of crude oil plunged 5% to its lowest level since last fall. Chesapeake Energy fell 7.4%. Banks did relatively well as bond yields rose, which allows lenders to charge higher interest rates on loans. Regions Financial rose 1.1%.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1 point to 2,389. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6 points, less than 0.1%, to 20,951. The Nasdaq composite edged up 2 points to 6,075. Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.35%. (More stock market stories.)