The S&P 500 closed 0.1% lower after swinging between small gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, while the Nasdaq rose 0.4%.
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Energy stocks, the biggest gainers in the benchmark S&P 500 so far this year, were the market’s biggest drag as U.S. crude fell below $90 a barrel for the first time since of early February, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Gains in technology stocks, retailers and elsewhere helped keep losses in energy, health care and other sectors in check.
The muted trading came as investors continued to review the latest updates on the economy and business earnings ahead of the government’s monthly snapshot of the country’s labor market on Friday.
Investors are looking to the jobs data to gauge whether any tightening in the labor market could lead to the Federal Reserve eventually easing its interest rate hikes as it battles inflation, which could reduce the chances that the bank central cause a recession.
“They wanted to quell demand and moderate inflation and they wanted to do that without unduly affecting the labor market in a negative way,” said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management. “So far, the Fed will evaluate all of this according to the plan and they will continue.”
The S&P 500 fell 3.23 points to 4,151.94, and the Dow fell 85.68 points to 32,726.82. The Nasdaq rose 52.42 points to 12,720.58. The Russell 2000 index of stocks of smaller companies gave up 2.47 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 1,906.46.
All major indexes except the Dow are poised for weekly gains after Wednesday’s recovery.
The price of US crude fell 2.3 percent to settle at $88.54 a barrel on Thursday, weighing on shares of energy companies. Exxon Mobil fell 4.2% and Occidental Petroleum fell 5.8%.
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Stocks have meandered this week, leaving the major indexes mostly higher. The August gain follows a stellar July that was the S&P 500’s best month since late 2020. But markets remain volatile as investors try to determine the economy’s path amid the highest inflation in four decades and efforts by central banks to fight higher prices.
The Federal Reserve has aggressively raised interest rates to try to slow the economy and fight inflation, along with other central banks. The Bank of England began its biggest rate hike in more than a quarter of a century on Thursday.
Recent economic data from the retail sales and employment reports have shown that the economy is already slowing.
“The cure for high inflation is sometimes high inflation,” Nixon said. “The narrative that we may have been at or past peak inflation is being validated by some of the data coming out.”