Stocks close flat with losses after midday rally

After a choppy start, indexes gained slightly Tuesday but closed little changed despite a midday rally in energy shares that offset declines in technology companies led by Apple Inc.

At the close on Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up less than a point, about 0.4 percent, at 2,080.2. It lost 0.7 percent Monday and is down 2.5 percent since its last record on May 21. The Dow Jones industrial average, which gained at midday, closed with a loss of 2.5 points, about 0.01 percent, at 17,7764. It erased its gains for 2015 on Monday. The Nasdaq composite ended with a 7.8 point loss, about 0.2 percent, at nearly 5,014.

Apple Inc. closed down 38 cents, about 0.3 percent, at $127.42. Energy companies rallied along with oil, with Noble Energy Inc. closing up $1.06, about 2.4 percent, at $45.75, and Hess Corp. gaining 58 cents, nearly 0.1 percent, to close at $65.57.

The markets seemed little impressed with a report from the U.S. Labor Department that said U.S. employers advertised the most open jobs in April than at any time in the 15 years that the government has tracked the data, a sign that this year's steady hiring will likely continue.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that the number of open jobs at the end of April jumped 5.2 percent to 5.4 million. The figure suggests that employers anticipate stronger customer demand in the months ahead.