Traders at the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, when a...

Traders at the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, when a bank rally drove stocks up. Wednesday was another story as stocks slipped in choppy trading. (March 13, 2012) Credit: AP

Stocks ended roughly where they started Wednesday on Wall Street, a day after the market had its biggest gain of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average eked out an increase of 16.42 points, its sixth consecutive gain. The Dow ended at 13,194.10, up 0.12 percent.

It was the longest winning stretch for the Dow since February 2011.

The Standard & Poor's 500 edged down 1.67 points to 1,394.28. The Nasdaq composite inched up 0.85 point to end at 3,040.73. The Nasdaq closed above 3,000 Tuesday for the first time since December 2000.

American Express led the Dow higher with a 3.50 percent advance. The credit card company said it would increase its dividend and buy back up to $5 billion of its own stock after passing the Federal Reserve's latest "stress test."

On Tuesday a powerful rally in bank stocks pushed the Dow to its highest close since the last day of 2007. The Federal Reserve said 15 of the 19 major banks it surveyed passed its test.

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