U.S. stocks traded mostly flat on Thursday, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 managed to notch intraday records as investors
weighed hot inflation readings but improved jobless claims data.
The 30-stock index stumbled 38.2 points from Wednesday's all-time record close to reach noon hour EDT at5 35,446.77.
The S&P 500 regained 5.56 points to 4,453.26, to improve on Wednesday's all-time high. Among the S&P sectors, health care and financial outperformed with gains of about 0.2% each, while tech and consumer discretionary stocks lagged.
The NASDAQ recovered 15.54 points to 14,780.68.
Among the S&P sectors, health-care and tech outperformed with gains of 0.5% and 0.35, respectively, while energy and materials stocks lagged. Salesforce and Apple were the best-performing stocks in the Dow while Visa shaved off about 20 points.
Dow member Disney will report earnings after the closing bell. The shares, down slightly in 2021, were down 0.2% during the regular session. Micron shares fell 5% after Morgan Stanley predicted a slowdown in the memory chip market and downgraded the stock.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday morning that initial jobless claims declined slightly last week as the U.S. labor market continues its recovery from last year's recession. There were 375,000 claims last week, matching estimates. The prior reading came in at 385,000 claims.
The prices U.S. manufacturers and other businesses pay for labor, raw materials and other goods rose again in July. The government said its producer price index, excluding volatile food, trade services and energy components, rose 0.9% last month versus a forecast for a 0.5% gain.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys slipped, raising yields to 1.37”% from Wednesday's 1.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $68.25 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lopped off 20 cents to $1,753.10 U.S. an ounce.