By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch , Ryan Vlastelica

Small-cap Russell 2000 also hits record

U.S. equity benchmarks mostly rose in afternoon trading on Wednesday, driven by a rally in technology shares, though the Dow struggled to hold on to gains and break its six-day losing streak.

Recent trade has been driven by uncertainty surrounding trade policy, which has colored investor sentiment since March.

How are the main benchmarks performing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average switched between small gains and losses, recently trading down 10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 24,687, erasing an early advance. The blue-chip average is coming off six straight daily drops, its longest such streak since March 2017. Were the Dow to extend that stretch to seven, it would still represent the longest since that month.

The S&P 500 index , however, added 9 points, or 0.3%, to 2,771. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 69 points to 7,794 a gain of 0.9% that took it to a record.

The Russell 2000 index of small-capitalization stocks rose 0.8% to 1,706 and hit an all-time high. The Russell has outperformed other indexes of late (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-factors-are-making-small-cap-stocks-one-of-the-strongest-segments-of-wall-street-2018-05-09), in part due to the higher domestic focus of its components, which insulates it from trade uncertainty.

Read:The result of all the volatility in 2018's stock market: Nothing (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-the-line-in-the-sand-that-stocks-have-had-the-most-difficult-breaking-through-this-year-2018-05-11)

Don't miss:Should investors favor cyclical or defensive stocks for the rest of the year? Analysts disagree (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/should-investors-favor-cyclical-or-defensive-stocks-for-the-rest-of-the-year-analysts-disagree-2018-06-18)

What's driving markets?

Investors appeared tempted back in to the market after Tuesday's selloff, triggered by the U.S. threat of tariffs on up to $450 billion more in Chinese products (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-seeks-additional-200-billion-in-tariffs-against-china-and-threatens-even-more-2018-06-18). The Trump administration dialed up the rhetoric late Tuesday, accusing China of waging a systematic campaign of "economic aggression" in a report released Tuesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/navarro-report-blasts-china-for-systematic-economic-aggression-2018-06-19).

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/navarro-report-blasts-china-for-systematic-economic-aggression-2018-06-19) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/navarro-report-blasts-china-for-systematic-economic-aggression-2018-06-19)Opinion: A Trump trade war could push China to the brink (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-trump-trade-war-could-push-china-to-the-brink-2018-06-19)

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-trump-trade-war-could-push-china-to-the-brink-2018-06-19)Worries that rising trade tensions could develop into a major headwind for global growth going forward have hung over investors for months. That comes at a time when investors are concerned that the economy is in the late stage of its cycle (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/slowing-growth-stalling-stocks-raise-fear-that-economys-good-days-are-numbered-2018-05-07), though most say that a recession isn't on the horizon (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/just-1-of-investors-expect-the-economy-will-be-stronger-a-year-from-now-2018-05-15).

What are strategists saying?

"This looks like a relief rally. Historically, a lot of headline-driven volatility is episodic and transitory, and once the headlines fade markets slowly reverse back. Today could be the beginning of something like that," said Lance Humphrey, executive director of global multi-assets at USAA.

"We're still analyzing how much the trade policies, if they go through, would impact valuations and fundamentals. If tariffs continue to rise, that is a negative, and it could derail some of the confidence. However, so many issues like this either don't end up happening, or they don't happen in the worst-case scenario. A lot of what we've seen is just rhetoric, and if you try and trade off things like that, you'll likely be wrong," he said.

Which stocks are in focus?

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) shares fell 7.4% after an earnings beat was followed up by weak guidance (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oracle-stock-falls-as-earnings-outlook-fuel-doubts-about-cloud-software-growth-2018-03-19).

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oracle-cloud-growth-slows-and-surprise-it-stops-giving-cloud-numbers-2018-06-19)Read:Oracle cloud growth slows, and--Surprise!--it stops giving cloud numbers (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oracle-cloud-growth-slows-and-surprise-it-stops-giving-cloud-numbers-2018-06-19)

The stock was a rare underperformer in the technology space, which was otherwise widely stronger on the day. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) added 1.7% while Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) gained 1.2%.

Starbucks Corp.(SBUX) dropped 9.6% after saying it will close more coffee shops in an increasingly crowded U.S. market (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/starbucks-to-close-stores-hike-investor-return-2018-06-19) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/starbucks-to-close-stores-hike-investor-return-2018-06-19).

General Electric Co.(GE) fell 0.4%. S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Tuesday that it would remove GE from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, where it has been a component for more than a century. It will replace the conglomerate with Walgreens Boots Alliance (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-electric-booted-from-dow-jones-industrial-average-2018-06-19)(WBA). Shares of Walgreens rose 4.7%.

Read:What Walgreens stock replacing GE may mean for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-walgreens-stock-replacing-ge-may-mean-for-the-dow-jones-industrial-average-2018-06-19)

AT&T Inc.(T) fell 1.1% after a report the telecommunications group is in talks to buy advertising technology company AppNexus (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/att-in-talks-to-buy-appnexus-for-about-16-billion-2018-06-20), backed by such investors as WPP PLC (WPP.LN), investment firm TCV and News Corp.(NWS.AU), the owner of the publisher of this report.

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) raised its offer to purchase most of 21st Century Fox(FOXA) to more than $70 billion in cash and stock, topping an unsolicited offer from rival Comcast Corp. (CMCSA). Shares of Disney rose 1.1% while Fox was up 7.2%. Comcast advanced 1.8%.

La-Z-Boy Inc.(LZB) tumbled 3.5% a day after the furniture company missed revenue estimates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/la-z-boy-stock-drops-7-after-earnings-report-2018-06-19).

Synaptics Inc.(SYNA) surged 9.5% after the computer-component group confirmed late Tuesday that it is pursuing a merger with rival Dialog Semiconductor PLC (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dialog-synaptics-confirm-acquisition-talks-2018-06-19)(DLG.XE).

Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (SRPT) rose 4.4%, building on a gain in the previous session, when it released promising early results (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sarepta-shares-rocket-50-on-promising-early-results-for-dmd-gene-therapy-2018-06-19) from a gene-therapy program.

PayPal Holdings Inc.'s (PYPL) stock rose 2% after Wedbush analyst Moshe Katri said that the company's recently announced acquisition of Hyperwallet had strategic benefits (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paypal-stock-gains-after-wedbush-cheers-hyperwallet-acquisition-2018-06-20).

Which economic reports are in focus?

The U.S. current-account deficit, a measures of the nation's debt to other countries, rose 6.9% in the first quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wider-us-trade-gap-spurs-69-increase-in-nations-debt-ledger-to-other-countries-2018-06-20) mostly because of a wider trade gap in goods. Existing-home sales ran at a lower-than-expected seasonally-adjusted annual 5.43 million rate in May, down 0.4% from April (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/existing-home-sales-sink-as-tight-supply-smothers-market-2018-06-20), the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the U.S. economy isn't on the verge of repeating the outbreak of inflation (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/powell-says-us-economy-not-on-verge-of-repeating-the-inflation-of-the-1970s-2018-06-20) last seen in the 1970s, despite the obvious parallel of tight labor markets.

Check out:MarketWatch's Economic Calendar (http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendars/economic)

What are other markets doing?

European stocks bounced off a nearly three-week low (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-stage-recovery-but-us-china-trade-tensions-remain-2018-06-20), while Asian stocks also saw broad gains (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-struggle-to-recover-from-tuesdays-big-losses-2018-06-19).

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-rally-pauses-as-trade-fears-ease-for-now-2018-06-20) was slightly lower at 95.029.

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-slump-as-merkel-comes-under-pressure-in-germany-2018-06-18)Gold futures (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-poised-to-carve-out-2018-low-as-metal-extends-decline-2018-06-20) slipped 0.3% to $1,275, and the U.S. oil benchmark (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-edges-higher-ahead-of-supply-data-opec-production-decision-2018-06-20) was up 0.8% to $65.42 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies appeared to brush off news that hackers stole about $30 million (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/south-korean-crypto-exchange-bithumb-says-30-million-stolen-by-hackers-2018-06-19)in virtual currencies from South Korean exchange Bithumb. Bitcoin reversed earlier losses to trade 0.3% higher at 6,754.97, while Ethereum was flat to $537.36.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 20, 2018 13:50 ET (17:50 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.