The S&P 500 dipped on Thursday even as second-quarter earnings results continued to beat expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved forward 53.79 points to finish the session Thursday at 34,987.02
The S&P 500 slipped 14.27 points to 4,360.03
The NASDAQ plummeted 101.82 points to 14,543.13.
Morgan Stanley's second-quarter earnings report topped analysts' expectations Thursday morning, yet its shares closed just 0.18% higher. The bank's stock was up 35% this year going into the results.
For the 18 S&P 500 companies that beat analyst estimates for second-quarter earnings this week, the average earnings-per-share result was 18% higher than expected. But those companies saw their shares fall 0.58% on average after reporting.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday maintained the central bank will continue to evaluate the economic recovery before changing its accommodating monetary policies. The Fed chair spoke before the Senate banking panel in a second day of testimony before Congress.
On the economic beat, initial jobless claims for the week ending July 10 totaled 360,000, a new pandemic-era low, as expected by economists.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.30% from Wednesday's 1.35%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.57 to $71.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $5.30 to $1,830.30 U.S. an ounce.