S&P, Nasdaq struggle to post slight gains

now within 1.7% of that record and on pace for its first weekly loss in three weeks. The Dow, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 are also down for the week. Technology companies made broad gains, including 4% for chipmaker Nvidia after it reported strong financial results, but those gains were outweighed by a slide in financial and industrial stocks. Companies that rely on consumer spending also weighed heavily on the market. Energy stocks took the heaviest losses in the S&P 500 as energy prices fell. Commodities fell broadly, with everything from oil to agricultural commodities to metals moving lower. Copper prices fell 1.9%, while the price of U.S. crude oil closed 2.7% lower. The drop in commodities prices dragged down oil companies and those who extract raw materials for industrial uses. Miner FreeportMcMoRan, Devon Energy and Occidental Petroleum fell 3% or more. The volatility in the commodities markets is notable because investors have been acutely focused on inflation as the global economy emerges from the pandemic. Earlier this year, prices for basic materials like lumber and copper and gasoline were all rising steadily and several hit multiyear highs. Most of those gains have now been erased with declines in recent weeks. Investors got a bit of positive economic news when the Labor Department reported another weekly drop in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits. Claims fell 29,000 to 348,000 last week, a pandemic low. The fourweek average fell 19,000 to just below 378,000, also a pandemic low. benchmark While stocks S&P 500 in the are now down roughly 1.4% this week, fund managers do not expect much volatility this month as investors will have little data to work with and earnings season is now mostly over.