NEW YORK: Major U.S. stock indexes pulled back slightly in light trading Thursday after two days of gains.
Crude-oil prices climbed above $50 a barrel but failed to remain there, spurring declines in the materials and energy sectors. Utilities, telecommunications and consumer discretionary companies gained as investors repositioned after days of buying riskier stocks.
Thursday’s session was the second-lowest-volume day this year, with roughly 5.8 billion U.S. shares changing hands ahead of a U.S. holiday weekend. That came after another particularly slow session Monday.
“It seems like there’s very little consensus out there, so the market seems to get whipped around,” said Rob Bernstone, managing director in equity trading at Credit Suisse.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.22 points, or 0.1%, to 17828.29. The S&P 500 slipped 0.44 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2090.10, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 6.88 points, or 0.1%, to 4901.77.
Energy shares in the S&P 500 reversed an early climb as crude prices fell back below $50 after briefly topping the milestone in intraday trading. U.S. crude oil lost 0.2% to $49.48 a barrel. The energy sector has been one of the top performers in the S&P 500 this year, rising 11% so far in 2016 as oil has rebounded from its lows.
Shares of materials companies dragged on the S&P 500, losing 1.1%. Freeport-McMoRan fell 31 cents, or 2.7%, to $11.34 while Dow Chemical Co. dropped 87 cents, or 1.7%, to 51.99. DuPont was the biggest decliner in the Dow, falling 1.27, or 1.9%, to 66.96.
While oil fell, it still settled at its second-highest level this year, weighing on travel companies. Carnival Corporation lost 2.04, or 4.1%, to 47.59 and Royal Caribbean Cruises declined 1.67, or 2.2%, to 75.46.
Delta Air Lines fell 74 cents, or 1.7%, to 42.76. American Airlines Group slid 66 cents, or 2.1%, to 31.51 and Southwest Airlines fell 74 cents, or 1.7%, to 41.79.
Dollar Tree rose 10.01, or 12.8%, to 88.37, making it the biggest gainer in the S&P 500. The retailer’s shares hit a new record after the company raised its outlook for the year and earnings topped expectations.
Financial shares in the S&P 500 fell 0.6% after gaining in recent sessions on expectations that higher interest rates would help profits at banks.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell said Thursday it may be appropriate for the Fed to raise interest rates again “fairly soon,” but said the Fed should proceed at a gradual pace.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note settled at 1.823% Thursday, down from 1.87% Wednesday.
Money managers said a slow approach to raising interest rates is unlikely to roil the bond market, especially at a time when many foreign investors are struggling to get income with even lower yields overseas.
“Investors are yield starved,’’ said Thomas Roth, executive director in the U.S. government-bond trading group at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA) Inc. “They know that the Fed will have to move slowly or they will crush all the bondholders.’’
The euro rose 0.3% against the dollar to $1.1195, while the dollar fell 0.4% against the yen at ¥109.764. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the buck against a basket of 16 currencies, slipped 0.2%.
