Stocks finished slightly lower Wednesday as health care companies continued to struggle. Energy companies bucked the downward trend and rose as the price of natural gas surged on the first day of winter.

On Wednesday:

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 32.66 points, or 0.2 percent, to 19,941.96.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 5.58 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,265.18.

The Nasdaq composite slid 12.51 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,471.43.

The Russell 2000 index retreated 8.76 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,375.19.

For the week:

The Dow is up 98.55 points, or 0.5 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 7.11 points, or 0.3 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 34.27 points, or 0.6 percent.

The Russell 2000 is up 10.79 points, or 0.8 percent.

For the year:

The Dow is up 2,516.93 points, or 14.4 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 221.24 points, or 10.8 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 464.02 points, or 9.3 percent.

The Russell 2000 is up 239.30 points, or 21.1 percent.