the sp 500 index and dow industrials closed higher on wednesday barely missing a finish at record closing highs as investors parsed the federal reserves latest beige book showing the us economy is growing at a modest to moderate pace but remains under pressure from inflation and labor shortages strong third quarter corporate earnings are helping investors overcome some doubts about the impact of the coronavirus delta variant supplychain disruptions and the federal reserves likely move to start withdrawing some of its easymoney policies the dow jones industrial average djia close 04 higher at 35609 missing its aug 16 closing high at 3562540 the sp 500 index spx closed up 04 to end at around 4536 coming within a hairs breadth of its sept 2 closing high at 453695 the nasdaq composite index comp  however ended down slightly less than 01 to end at about 15121 ending its win streak at five straight sessions investors were focused on results from electricvehicle maker tesla inc tsla  which rolled out after wednesdays close meanwhile the feds latest beige book survey of economic conditions released wednesday pointed to a us economy that still is growing at a solid pace but labor shortages and supplychain bottlenecks that have been restraining growth and triggering higher inflation