Tech and bank stocks dip after a big rally the day before

NEW YORK—U.S. stocks finished lower Thursday after an afternoon rally faded away. Banks and technology companies fell after the market pulled off a huge rally the day before.

Financial stocks fell as interest rates again edged lower. Crude oil prices climbed after they briefly dipped under $50 a barrel overnight. The rebound helped energy stocks trade higher. Health care companies, which have climbed over the last month, continued to do better than the rest of the market.

The Federal Reserve released minutes from its meeting in early November. Officials expressed concerns about a variety of threats to the economy, including the impact of tariffs, a slowing global economy and tightening financial conditions amid falling stock prices. The assessment was in line with comments Wednesday from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The S&P 500 index shed 5.99 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,737.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from a loss of 163 points and ended down just 27.59 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,338.84.

The Nasdaq composite slid 18.51 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,273.08 as tech stocks dipped. Smaller companies, especially banks and industrial stocks, fared worse. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 5 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,525.39.

The S&P 500 index was coming off its largest rally in eight months and has climbed 4 percent this week. It finished at a six-month low on Friday.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 2.3 percent to finish at $51.45 a barrel in New York. Brent crude edged up 1.3 percent to $59.51 a barrel in London.

EOG Resources rose 1.6 percent to $105.47 and Anadarko Petroleum gained 2.2 percent to $53.70. The S&P 500 index of energy companies has dropped 12 percent over the last three months, worse than any of the other major market sectors. The S&P 500 itself has fallen 6 percent over that time.

Stocks rallied Wednesday after Powell suggested in a speech that the Fed might be almost done raising interest rates, and is willing to stop raising rates at least temporarily so it can assess the effects of the last few years of increases. Investors have been nervous that climbing interest rates will contribute to a damaging slowdown in economic growth. That fear is one of the major reasons behind the slide in stocks this autumn.

Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.03 percent from 3.04 percent. Banks fell as investors expected slower increases in interest rates, which reduce the profits banks make from mortgages and other types of loans. Bank of America shed 1.4 percent to $28.04 and Bank of New York Mellon slid 1.8 percent to $50.68.

Qualcomm stock gained 2.6 percent to $58.11 after Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in an interview with CNBC that the company is close to resolving its long and costly dispute with Apple. Apple stopped making licensing fee payments to Qualcomm following a legal dispute between the companies, and later decided to stop using Qualcomm parts in some of its products.

In other commodities trading, wholesale gasoline jumped 4.1 percent to $1.45 a gallon. Heating oil edged up 0.3 percent to $1.84 a gallon. Natural gas slipped 1.1 percent to $4.65 per 1,000 cubic feet.