Despite a mixed daily finish, S&P 500 and Nasdaq notch new records

Stock indexes closed out another wobbly day of trading on Wall Street with an uneven finish Thursday that includes more all-time highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

The benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.4%, extending its winning streak to a sixth day. The index has notched a succession of recordhigh closes, often on days when the market got off to a downbeat start.

The Nasdaq climbed 0.8%, its ninth-straight gain and latest record high for the tech-heavy index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped less than 0.1%, ending the blue-chip index’s five-day winning streak.

More companies in the S&P 500 fell than rose, but gains by several big technology companies helped outweigh losses elsewhere in the market.

Despite the mixed outcome, the market’s latest milestones underscore how traders remain in a buying mood, encouraged by solid company earnings and by the Federal Reserve’s decision, at least for now, to only slowly begin dialing back policies aimed at spurring U.S. economic growth when it was in the throes of the pandemic recession.

On Wednesday, the Fed said it will begin reducing its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases in the coming weeks by $15 billion a month. The central bank could decide to raise its short-term interest rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, from near zero. Many market watchers concluded that the Fed was moving cautiously in dialing back its support, which is good news for Wall Street.

“Ninety percent of it is ultra-loose monetary policy,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, on what helped push stocks to more new highs Thursday.

“The very mechanism that’s causing inflation to rise is also causing asset prices to rise, so therein lies the dilemma,” he said. “The fact that we’re not going to have a corporate tax increase is also wildly bullish.”

The S&P 500 rose 19.49 points to 4,680.06. The index is on pace for its fifth straight weekly gain. The last time that happened was during July and August of last year.

The Dow fell 33.35 points to 36,124.23, while the Nasdaq added 128.72 points to 15,940.31.

Small company stocks also gave up some ground. The Russell 2000 index slipped 1.85 points, or 0.1%, to 2,402.43.