U.S. stock benchmarks logged slight gains on Wednesday, helping to halt a two-day skid for equities. However, volumes were seasonally low and activity muted as investors are reluctant to make big bets with just a few trading days remaining in 2017. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up about 28 points, or 0.1%, at 24,774, the S&P 500 index finished up 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,682. Gains in health care, up 0.2%, technology, up 0.2%, and real-estate, 0.4% higher, helped to offset losses in energy, down 0.3%, as crude-oil prices retreated from a 2 1/2-year high. Meanwhile the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 3 points, or less than 0.1%, to 6,939. The advances were enough to avoid a three-session skid for the major benchmarks, which would have been the longest in three months. In corporate news, shares of Celgene Corp. ended down 2.4% after its shares were downgraded to market perform by Bernstein.
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