Late buying drive erases much of an early loss for stocks

NEW YORK—Losses for health care companies and banks left U.S. stocks lower Thursday, although a late push for technology and industrial companies helped the market avoid a steeper decline.

After a weak finish the day before, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped as much as 393 points Thursday morning. Thanks to another gain in Boeing, it ended slightly higher.

Companies including insurer AIG, prescription drug distributor Cardinal Health, and music streaming service Spotify suffered big losses. Banks declined along with interest rates.

Microsoft and Cisco Systems helped technology companies to some modest gains. But investors haven’t found much to get excited about the last couple of days as they worry about trade tensions and the possibility that growth in company profits has peaked.

The S&P 500 index slid 5.94 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,629.73. The Dow rose 5.17 points to 23,390.15. The Nasdaq composite lost 12.75 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,088.15. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 8.36 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,546.56.

About three-fourths of S&P 500 companies had reported results as of Wednesday, according to CFRA Research, and their profits and revenues have consistently blown past Wall Street’s expectations. But the market isn’t acting like it: since April 12, the day before big banks started reporting their results, the S&P 500 is down 1.3 percent.

The possibility that earnings growth was at its peak didn’t appear to be on investors’ minds until the comments from Caterpillar executives last week. Rising costs are one challenge companies are facing, and that could be in focus again Friday after the government releases its report on job creation and wage growth.

Banks fell in tandem with interest rates as bond prices climbed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.95 percent from 2.97 percent. Lower bond yields mean banks can’t make as much money from lending.

Cardinal Health, which distributes prescription drugs, also had a smaller-than-expected profit and slashed its forecast for the rest of the year. Cardinal said its Cordis cardiovascular products business ran into supply chain problems and also paid a higher expected tax rate. The stock gave up 21.4 percent to $50.80.

Medical device maker Hologic dropped 6.9 percent to $36.91 after it wrote down the value of its Cynosure business by about $732 million. It paid $1.57 billion to buy the company a little more than a year ago.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have also taken investors’ attention away from earnings. Chinese and U.S. officials met face-to-face in Beijing Thursday in an attempt to resolve a dispute over technology that has taken the world’s two largest economies the closest they’ve ever come to a trade war. Analysts felt the two sides aren’t likely to have a big breakthrough in the two-day meeting.

Benchmark U.S. crude recovered from an early loss and rose 0.7 percent to $68.43 barrel in New York. That was its highest price since December 2014. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.4 percent to $73.62 a barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline picked up 0.4 percent to $2.09 a gallon. Heating oil slipped 0.4 percent to $2.11 a gallon. Natural gas lost 1 percent to $2.73 per 1,000 cubic feet.