U.S. stocks ended a strong 2014 with moderate declines Wednesday. There was no major catalyst for Wednesday's selling. Trading has been slow all week because of the holidays and most fund managers have closed their books for the year. Energy companies fell as the price of oil declined yet again.
Markets will be closed Thursday for New Year's Day. They will resume a regular schedule on Friday.
On Wednesday:
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 160 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,823.07.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 21.45 points, or 1 percent, to 2,058.90.
The Nasdaq composite fell 41.39 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,736.05.
For the week:
The Dow is down 230.64 points, or 1.3 percent.
![Three weeks ago, Octavio Rodriguez switched from making transmission parts to casting parts for hospital bed brake assemblies at Twin City Die Castings. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com Thursday, April 9, 2020 How employee-owned Twin City Die Casting, which just laid off 40 production workers of its 250 employees in what was supposed to be a good year, is trying to accelerate its pivot to growing medical parts business for ventilators, hospital beds, etc as it copes with instan](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/WNZYKGTZ5IYMUCO3KI5TR3N7WI.jpg?&w=80&ar=1:1&fit=crop)
djoles@startribune.com As boaters flock to Minnesota lakes and rivers this holiday weekend for the unofficial kick-off to the boating season, they'll face more inspections in and out of the water as local cities and counties ramp up their work to stop the spread of invasive species. Across the metro, more boat accesses will be staffed by watercraft inspectors thanks to $10 million funneled to county government programs this year, up from $4.5 million the state allocated last year. ORG XMIT: MIN1505222156290209 ORG XMIT: MIN1506021218440580](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/34QSKO44B2XKVNUZCO5SLJQSLY.jpg?&w=80&ar=1:1&fit=crop)
