Slide in banks, energy firms weighs on stocks

Stocks capped another day of trading with a slight loss as a slide offset solid gains for the technology sector.

U.S. stocks capped another day of listless trading with a slight loss Thursday as a slide in banks and industrial companies offset solid gains for the technology sector.

Homebuilders also declined following new data showing sales of new U.S. homes slumped in July. U.S. crude oil prices also ended essentially flat.

Investors had their eye on the latest developments in the U.S.China trade dispute as both nations held their first high-level talks in two months. Traders also were looking ahead to Friday’s gathering of central bankers, including Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, an annual symposium that has often generated market-moving news.

“It’s been a fairly quiet day,” said Paul Springmeyer, head of investments at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “There’s obviously some reservation about what’s going to come out from Jackson Hole, from Chairman Powell.”

The S&P 500 fell 4.84 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,856.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 76.62 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,656.98. The Nasdaq composite lost 10.64 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,878.46. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 5.49 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,717.05.

Stocks spent much of the day hovering just below their prior day closing levels.

Markets showed little reaction to the latest round of dueling tariffs between the U.S. and China. The countries imposed 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion of each other’s goods Thursday, including automobiles and factory equipment. The increases were announced previously.

Beijing has rejected U.S. demands to scale back technology development plans that its trading partners say violate Chinese market-opening pledges and that American officials worry might erode the United States’ industrial leadership.

Investors came into this week feeling cautiously optimistic that the talks may lead to an end to the U.S.-China trade dispute. The market has mostly shrugged off the trade uncertainty in recent weeks, focusing instead on another strong quarter of corporate earnings growth. Earnings at S&P 500 companies have surged 23 percent in the first half of this year versus the same period a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“The market is waiting to see the effect of the tariffs,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade. “It’s hard to argue what’s going on with earnings.”

Of more immediate interest for the market is Friday’s annual gathering of central bankers. Powell was scheduled to deliver a keynote speech that traders are sure to scrutinize for signs of Fed views on Turkey’s currency crisis and U.S.-China trade tensions. If Powell sounds confident, investors would likely conclude the Fed will keep gradually raising rates.

MARK LENNIHAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A sign for Wall Street on the side of a building near the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday.