Stocks barely budge, leaving S&P 500 just shy of record high

NEW YORK — Stock indexes on Wall Street barely budged Friday, leaving the Standard & Poor’s 500 index just shy of its record once again. The S&P 500 ended down 0.58 points, or less than 0.1%, to 3,372.85 after drifting between small gains and losses throughout the day. They’re the latest meandering moves for the market, which has taken a pause after erasing almost all of the steep losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In each of the prior two days, the S&P 500 made a brief run above its record closing high, which it set in February, only to fade in the afternoon. It remains within 0.4% of its record. Wall Street was nearly evenly split between stocks that rose and...