Stocks mixed but Nasdaq moves closer to 5000
Stocks closed mostly lower Thursday amid mixed economic data and a sharp drop in oil prices, but the Nasdaq continues its march upward toward 5000.
Energy stocks tumbled as crude dropped more than 4% and fell back below $50 a barrel.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 11 oints, or 0.1%, to 18,214, as it retreated from the previous day's record close of 18,224.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2111.
The Nasdaq composite index gained 21 points, or 0.4%, to 4988, falling just 12 points shy of the 5000 milestone. The benchmark last reached that level 15 long years ago, in those magic days before the bursting of the tech-dotcom bubble.
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Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.82 to $48.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In economic news:
• Consumer prices in January fell on an annual basis for the first time since 2009, an effect of plummeting gas prices. Jobless claims rose 31,000 to top the 300,000 mark, but the less volatile four-week average remains below that number, the Labor Department says.
• Weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 313,000, the most in six weeks.
• Orders for durable goods increased 2.8% in January, the Commerce Department reports.
Overseas, Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday on upbeat corporate earnings and rising Chinese factory output. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite rose 2.2%.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 is up 0.2% while Germany's DAX is 1% higher and France's CAC 40 gained 0.6%.
Trading on Wednesday was relatively subdued as investors reviewed the latest corporate earnings news and digested remarks by Fed Chair Janet Yellen in her second day of Capitol Hill testimony. Her comments didn't generate any major market-moving news. A day earlier, Yellen suggested that the Fed is not in a hurry to raise interest rates.
The Dow rose 15.38 points, or 0.1%, to a record close of 18,224.57, but the Nasdaq fell 0.98 to 4967.14, breaking its 10-day winning streak. The S&P 500 retreated from its previous day's closing record and fell 1.62 points, or 0.1%, to 2113.86.
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Contributing: The Associated Press