Stocks' 3d best month of 2014

NEW YORK - A sharp drop in crude prices tugged down shares in oil and gas companies Friday, leading the Standard & Poor's 500 index to a slight loss in a short trading session. However, other companies benefited from the price decline.

The index, a benchmark for many investments, still closed out November with its third-best month this year.

"Crude is the big story today," said JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade's chief strategist. "The Chevrons and Exxons of the world are getting hammered; then on the other side, you have the shipping companies - UPS and FedEx - along with the airlines. For them, it's a beautiful story."

The S&P 500 index lost 5.27 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 2,067.56. As a group, energy companies lost 6 percent, the worst drop of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 by far.

The Dow Jones industrial average inched up 0.49 of a point, not even noticeable as a percentage, to eke out another record high, 17,828.24.

The Nasdaq composite picked up 4.31 points, or 0.09 percent, to 4,791.63. Regular U.S. trading closed at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Friday and the market was shut Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The main news driving trading was a decision made Thursday by the OPEC oil cartel to keep production at 30 million barrels a day. That announcement hit oil prices hard as traders expect the global supply of oil to stay high. Crude oil slumped $7.54, or 10 percent, to settle at $66.15.

In government bond trading, prices for 10-year Treasurys rose. The yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 2.17 percent.

In metals trading, the price of gold for February delivery lost $22 to $1,175.50 an ounce, and silver for March fell $1.05 to $15.56 an ounce. Copper for March fell 11 cents to $2.85 a pound.