Stocks dip as S&P 500 streak ends

Health care and energy companies led U.S. stocks lower Thursday, ending a three-day winning streak for the S&P 500 and giving the benchmark index only its fourth loss this month.

The modest sell-off came as investors weighed mixed economic data and company earnings reports while keeping an eye on Washington, where U.S. and Chinese negotiators resumed high-level talks aimed at ending a costly trade dispute. Treasury yields rose and the price of gold fell.

The S&P 500, which has risen for the past three weeks, fell 9.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,774.88. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 103.81 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,850.63.

The Nasdaq composite declined 29.36 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,459.71. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gave up 6.11 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,575.55.

Some of the selling may have been driven by traders electing to take some profits after a big rebound in recent weeks, which came after a steep sell-off in the past three months of 2018, said Erik Wytenus, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

“Markets need a little bit of an opportunity to breathe,” he said. “We definitely have seen some market participants lightening up some risk, given the size of that bounce back, because any way you slice it, we’re late in the [economic] cycle.”

Major European indexes finished mostly higher.

Thursday’s losses were broad, with health care stocks, banks, energy and communications companies accounting for much of the decline. CVS Health dropped 2.9 percent, while SVB Financial Group lost 2.1 percent. CenturyLink fell 4.1 percent. Oil and natural gas explorer Concho Resources slid 7.8 percent.

Despite the solid profit growth in the last quarter, investors are cautious about business conditions going forward as signs of weakness in the global economy emerge. The long-running, costly trade dispute between the U.S. and China has also clouded the outlook for company profits this year.

“Trade is the big one right now, because there’s still a lot of uncertainty on it,” said Craig Birk, chief investment officer at Personal Capital.

The world’s two biggest economies are locked in a trade war that President Donald Trump started over allegations that China deploys predatory tactics to try to overtake U.S. technological dominance.

Traders also got a mixed picture in the latest batch of company earnings reports Thursday.

Domino’s Pizza slumped 9.1 percent after the pizza chain reported weak growth at its stores in the fourth quarter and results fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Avis Budget Group jumped 17.1 percent after reporting earnings that were much better than analysts were expecting.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings climbed 3.4 percent after the cruise line operator’s revenue surged in the fourth quarter and it gave investors a solid forecast.

Johnson & Johnson lost 0.7 percent after the world’s biggest maker of health care products disclosed that it had received federal subpoenas related to litigation over its baby powder.

Benchmark U.S. crude slid 0.3 percent to settle at $56.96 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was little changed at $67.07 a barrel in London.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.69 percent from 2.65 percent late Wednesday.

In other energy futures trading, wholesale gasoline rose 1 percent to $1.61 a gallon. Heating oil added 0.9 percent to $2.04 a gallon. Natural gas gained 2.3 percent to $2.70 per 1,000 cubic feet.