US market indexes drift; energy sector recovers

U.S. stocks are drifting between small gains and losses in midday trading a day after the Dow Jones industrial average reached another record.

Virgin America rose 28 percent in its market debut Friday. Energy companies also rose as the price of crude oil turned higher.

Nordstrom rose 2 percent after the high-end department store reported better quarterly results than analysts were expecting.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was flat at 2,039.

The Dow slipped 15 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,636. The Nasdaq composite edged up three points, less than 0.1 percent, to 4,683.

The price of oil halted a slide, bringing relief to the energy sector. U.S. crude rose 73 cents to $74.93 a barrel in New York.

This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 11:12 AM with the headline "US market indexes drift; energy sector recovers."