Stock results are mixed as investors seek safety

Industrial firms decline as expectations for U.S. growth fade in markets.

Stocks wobbled Thursday as investors changed course and tempered their expectations for faster economic growth. Industrial companies, which have surged over the last few months, finished lower as Wall Street focused on gold, bonds, and companies that pay big dividends.

Construction equipment, transportation and metals companies skidded and small-company stocks, which are more sensitive to changes in economic growth, also slumped. Technology companies fell for the first time in February. The biggest gains went to utilities, real estate investment trusts, and other companies that pay hefty dividends. Despite all that, the Dow Jones industrial average, which tracks 30 large U.S. stocks, rose for the 10th day in a row.

Industrial companies have made big gains since November as investors expect the Trump administration and Republican Congress to ramp up spending on infrastructure. That optimism faded a bit on Thursday.

An infrastructure spending bill is one of the administration’s key proposals for speeding up economic growth, along with tax cuts and reduced regulations. But Jeff Kravetz, regional investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said it might take a while before any bills are introduced or become law.

“They’re all positive initiatives for the economy but to get any of these done is not something we can get done in a few months,” he said. “We may have gotten ahead of ourselves with a lot of these initiatives.”

The Dow added 34.72 points, or 0.2 percent, to 20,810.32. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.99 points to 2,363.81. The Nasdaq composite lost 25.12 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,835.51. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks slid 9.23 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,394.62.

Industrial companies declined for the second day in a row, and took some of their biggest losses