S&P 500 Fails to Hold Record as Dollar Gains; Gas Slides

U.S. stocks ended the session little changed with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index failing to hold above its record closing level for a third straight day. The dollar strengthened against most major peers while gold slid with silver and natural gas dropped a third day.

The S&P 500 closed flat at 1,845.16 by 4:20 p.m. in New York, erasing an earlier gain of as much as 0.4 percent. The dollar climbed the most against the euro this month and rallied against 14 of 16 major counterparts while the ruble and hryvnia slid on reports Russia ordered military exercises amid deepening tensions with Ukraine. Natural gas slid 4.7 percent amid forecasts for warmer weather in the eastern U.S. and gold futures sank the most in about a month. Silver lost 3.2 percent.