U.S. stocks end mostly lower, with S&P 500 suffering longest losing streak since October

U.S. stocks closed mostly lower Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling a fifth straight day as investors continued fearing a recession could be triggered by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes as it fights high inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.00%
closed about flat, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.19%
fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.51%
dropped 0.5%, preliminary data from FactSet show. The S&P 500 finished with its longest losing streak since October 12, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, only healthcare, consumer staples and real estate finished with gains.