Investing.com -- U.S. stocks moved slightly lower on Wednesday, extending a recent trend of sideways, range-bound trading, as sharp losses in the energy sector offset gains from a strong second quarter by Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 37.39 or 0.20% to 18,495.66 in Wednesday's session, suffering its third loss over the last five trading sessions. Since hitting an all-time record-high of 18,622.01 on July 20, the Dow is down fractionally by approximately 0.40%. Over the last month of trading, the Dow has only moved 1% in a positive or negative direction from its previous session's closing level once in the last 23 sessions.
The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, lost 20.89 or 0.40% to 5,204.59, while the S&P 500 Composite index fell 37.39 or 0.20% to 18,495.66, each remaining near record territory. With the slight losses, the NASDAQ is on pace for its first losing week since mid-June. On the S&P 500, seven of 10 sectors closed in the red as stocks in the Energy, Financials and Health Care industries lagged. Stocks in the Consumer Goods, Consumer Services and Telecommunications sectors led, each closing moderately higher for the day.
The top performer on the Dow was Disney, which added 1.15 or 1.19% to 97.82, reversing slight losses from earlier on Wednesday morning. It came on the heels of stellar second quarter results, after Disney reported its 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth on an adjusted basis. Over the second quarter, Disney said company revenues increased by 1% to $4.2 billion, amid a 60% uptick in studio sales and a strong quarter among its theme park division.
Notably, Disney disclosed a 33% ownership stake in live-streaming company BAMTech, while announcing plans to launch a direct-to-consumer sports streaming service. The $1 billion investment in BAMTech, a leading technology service initially formed by Major League Baseball, includes an option to acquire majority ownership in coming years.
"Our investment in BAMTech gives us the technology infrastructure we need to quickly scale and monetize our streaming capabilities at ESPN and across our company," said Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. "We look forward to working closely with BAMTech as we explore new ways to deliver the unmatched content of The Walt Disney Company across a variety of platforms."
The worst performer was Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), which fell 2.45 or 2.76% to 86.25. Earlier, WTI crude plunged 2.5% to $41.75 a barrel in the wake of an unexpected inventory build of 1.1 million in U.S. crude inventories last week. Investors also reacted to reports of increased production in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom pumped a record 10.67 million bpd in July.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Jd.Com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD), which added 1.04 or 4.65% to 23.41. Shares in the Chinese e-commerce company are still down more than 31% over the last 52 weeks. The worst performer was Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC), which slid 2.11 or 4.66% to 43.17. Shares in the semiconductor company fell sharply, amid concerns with Sandisk's cross-licensing patent agreement with Samsung (KS:005930), as regulatory officials review Western Digital's (NASDAQ:WDC) $19 billion merger with the California-based flash memory storage manufacturer.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,644-1,309 margin.