How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday 8/26/2026

Audio By Carbonatix

The U.S. stock market drifted through a quiet day of trading after a report said inflation last month was a touch worse than economists expected.

The S&P 500 edged down by less than 0.1% Wednesday and remains near its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.

Treasury yields ticked higher following the update on inflation, which has traders still mostly betting the Federal Reserve will hike the federal funds rate by the end of this year. Oil prices slipped following some more swings up and down throughout the day.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 fell 1.58 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7,675.70.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 113.52 points, or 0.2%, to 53,463.88.

The Nasdaq composite fell 21.10 points, or 0.1%, to 26,130.20.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.12 points, or 0.1%, to 3,005.90.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 1.33 points, or less than 0.1%.

The Dow is up 186.87 points, or 0.4%.

The Nasdaq is down 50.26 points, or 0.2%.

The Russell 2000 is down 11.97 points, or 0.4%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 830.20 points, or 12.1%.

The Dow is up 5,400.59 points, or 11.2%.

The Nasdaq is up 2,888.21 points, or 12.4%.

The Russell 2000 is up 523.99 points, or 21.1%.