NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. stock markets were little changed Thursday, hanging on to most of the gains made in the previous session sparked by the Federal Reserve's policy shift.
Stocks bolted higher Wednesday after the central bank said it would scale back on its $85 billion per month asset purchasing program in January. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 11.11 points, up 0.07 percent to establish a new all-time closing high at 16,19.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 1.05 points or 0.06 percent, to slide off Wednesday's record close and settle at 1,809.60.
The Nasdaq composite index gave up 11.93 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,058.13.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 3.4 billion shares were traded with 1,315 stocks moving higher and 1,797 declining.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 271.42 points or 1.74 percent to 15,859.22. In London, the FTSE 100 index added 92.62 or 1.43 percent to close at 6,584.70.
The dollar traded lower against the euro, hitting at $1.3657. It also moved lower to 104.22 against the yen.
The 10-year benchmark treasury note fell 10/32 to yield 2.931 percent.
Gold gave up $47.90 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, dropping 3.88 percent to $1,187.10 per troy ounce. Silver also lost ground, losing 82.9 cents or 4.13 percent, to $19.23.
In late trading, crude oil added 83 cents to $98.63 per barrel.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, corn for March delivery added 5 cents to $4.30 per bushel. January delivery soybeans gained 2 cents to $13.26. March wheat dropped 2.25 cents to $6.105.
