Major U.S. stock indexes edged higher Wednesday as concerns around the consequences of a strong economic recovery, marked by inflation, continued to buffet the market.

Stocks remained volatile as stocks have struggled to gain traction in recent days. Investors have been torn between whether to plow into growth or value stocks, with the question largely hinging on how much farther the economic recovery will go and whether the rebound in activity will spur enough inflation, forcing the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy.

The tussle between economically sensitive stocks and shares of fast-growing companies continued to play out Wednesday, leading to another muted session of trading. The S&P 500 ended up 6.08 points, or 0.1%, to 4208.12 after waffling above and below the flatline throughout the session.

Wednesday’s real action appeared to happen outside the major indexes. The market’s more seismic moves were concentrated around a handful of stocks popular with individual investors, including AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry . Both of those so-called meme stocks are on a tear again after surging earlier this year.

Analysts credited the run-up to a mob of individual traders who have proved to be a powerful force on Wall Street ever since GameStop ’s jaw-dropping ascent in January. Many investors appeared to surge into the stock Wednesday on news that a hedge fund had bought and quickly sold for a profit $230.5 million worth of AMC stock.