The S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Thursday after a report that US Special Counsel Robert Mueller had issued a subpoena for documents related to US President Donald Trump's businesses offset strong jobs and manufacturing data. The S&P fell to a session low soon after the New York Times report was released but recovered much of its losses by the market close. It has fallen for four straight days, its longest losing streak since December.
The Dow pared some gains but still ended higher for the first time in four days. As earnings season has drawn to a close, political developments, such as the ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week, have significantly influenced the direction of US stocks.
"The market is looking to bite on something to push it out of its trading range," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. Earlier, the S&P had opened with gains as government data showed weekly US jobless claims fell last week, pointing to a strong labour market. Manufacturing surveys from the New York Fed and Philadelphia Fed also pointed to a tightening labour market.
It also got a boost after Peter Navarro, the White House's top adviser on international trade, said in a CNBC interview Trump's tough approach to global trade, including tariffs on metals imports, would not necessarily provoke retaliation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115.54 points, or 0.47 percent, to close at 24,873.66, the S&P 500 lost 2.15 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,747.33 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 15.07 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,481.74.
The S&P industrial index, however, rose 0.3 percent, leading all sectors, and posted its first session of gains in four days as worries of a trade war eased. Caterpillar was up 1.3 percent. Among stocks, Alibaba jumped 3.4 percent on a report that the Chinese e-commerce company was planning a secondary listing in China.
Dollar General rose 4.8 percent after the discount retailer's quarterly same-store sales beat estimates. Qorvo tumbled 3.9 percent after Bank of America said the radio frequency chipmaker could lose out to Broadcom for a spot in upcoming iPhones.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.71-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favoured decliners. Volume on US exchanges was 6.65 billion shares, compared to the 7.08 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
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