Stock indexes finish day mixed after weak holiday retail report

U.S. stock indexes clawed most of the way back from an early slide Thursday to finish mostly lower, ending a four-day winning streak for the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Losses in banks and retailers and consumer products makers offset gains in health care stocks, technology companies and elsewhere in the market as investors weighed new data showing retail sales slumped in December amid a disappointing holiday shopping season.

The Commerce Department reported that December retail sales posted their biggest drop since September 2009. Separately, the National Retail Federation issued figures showing U.S. holiday season sales were weaker than expected.

While the discouraging retail sales data initially put investors in a selling mood, the sell-off reversed course as traders had some time to reconsider how useful the 2-month-old data would be in forecasting consumer

spending trends in coming months.

“This was a really big shock because it was a nineyear low, in terms of its move, but the market doesn’t care what happened two months ago,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading & derivatives at Charles Schwab. “The market really wants to know what’s going on today, and really more importantly what to look for the next month.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 103.88 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,439.39. Earlier, the average had been down 235 points.

The S&P 500 index dropped 7.30 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,745.73. The Nasdaq composite edged up 6.58 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,426.95. Small-company stocks rose. The Russell 2000 index added 2.16 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,545.11.

Slightly more stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Investors retreated into government bonds following the weak report on U.S. retail sales, sending benchmark yields lower.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.65 percent from 2.70 percent late Wednesday. That yield is used to set rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans.

The Commerce Department said retail sales fell 1.2 percent in December from the previous month. Total retail sales for 2018 rose 5 percent from the previous year. Separately, the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, said that holiday sales increased a lower-thanexpected 2.9 percent as worries about the trade war with China, the government shutdown and stock market turmoil dampened shopper spending in December.