Stocks Finish Higher For Fourth Straight Month; Dow Snaps Record Run

Stocks ended February for a fourth straight month of gains even as they finished slightly lower Tuesday, as the Dow industrials snapped its streak of record closes ahead of President Donald Trump's speech before both houses of Congress this evening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 25.20 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 20,812.24, led lower by shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Nike Inc. , snapping its streak of twelve consecutive record closes. The S&P 500 index closed down 6.11 points, or 0.3%, at 2,363.64, with consumer-discretionary and industrial stocks weighing on the index. The Nasdaq Composite index finished down 36.46 points, or 0.6%, at 5,825.44. All three benchmarks finished February for a fourth straight month of gains with the Dow industrials up 4.9%, the S&P 500 up 3.7%, and the Nasdaq gaining 3.8%.

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