Stocks eked out some modest gains on Wall Street Wednesday, enough to nudge the Nasdaq composite index to another all-time high.

       The S&P 500 gave up nearly all of a midday gain and ended barely higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell, while small-company stocks did better than the rest of the market.

       The muted trading came a day after the S&P 500 closed out August with its seventh consecutive monthly gain.

       On Wednesday:

       The S&P 500 rose 1.41 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,524.09.

       The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48.20 points, or 0.1%, to 35,312.53.

       The Nasdaq rose 50.15 points, or 0.3%, to 15,309.38.

       The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 13.28 points, or 0.6%, to 2,287.06.

       For the week:

       The S&P 500 is up 14.72 points, or 0.3%.

       The Dow is down 143.27 points, or 0.4%.

       The Nasdaq is up 179.88 points, or 1.2%.

       The Russell 2000 is up 9.91 points, or 0.4%.

       For the year:

       The S&P 500 is up 768.02 points, or 20.4%.

       The Dow is up 4,706.05 points, or 15.4%.

       The Nasdaq is up 2,421.10 points, or 18.8%.

       The Russell 2000 is up 312.20 points, or 15.8%.