U.S. market indexes were mixed on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,392.79 for a gain of 140.67 points or 0.54%. The S&P 500 Index closed at 2,839.25 for a gain of 1.71 points or 0.06%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,411.16 for a loss of -3.89 points or -0.05%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 11.57 for a gain of 0.10 points or 0.87%.
Thursday’s market movers
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed at new record highs with help from positive earnings reports by 3M (MMM, Financial) and Caterpillar (CAT, Financial). Technology stocks continued losses Thursday with the Nasdaq Composite down 3.89 points. Utilities led gains for the day and energy stocks led losses.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- Jobless claims increased by 17,000 to 233,000.
- New home sales increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625,000.
- The Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.6%.
- Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey showed mortgage rates increasing for the week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average increased to 4.15% from 4.04%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage average increased to 3.62% from 3.49%.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:
- Boeing (BA, Financial) 2.51%
- 3M (MMM, Financial) 1.71%
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Financial) 1.69%
- United Technologies (UTX, Financial) 1.48%
- Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) 1.25%
- Wal-Mart (WMT, Financial) 0.74%
- Visa (V, Financial) 0.59%
- Travelers (TRV, Financial) 0.55%
- Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) 0.52%
- American Express (AXP, Financial) 0.38%
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,601.67 for a gain of 2.06 points or 0.13%. The S&P 600 Index closed at 976.56 for a gain of 3.60 points or 0.37%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 9,925.45 for a gain of 14.03 points or 0.14%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,527.12 for a loss of -1.86 points or -0.02%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,987.35 for a loss of -0.39 points or -0.02%; the S&P 100 Index at 1,258.04 for a gain of 1.50 points or 0.12%; the Russell 3000 Index at 1,676.33 for a gain of 0.80 points or 0.05%; the Russell 1000 Index at 1,571.34 for a gain of 0.65 points or 0.04%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 726.12 for a gain of 2.88 points or 0.40%.
