Stocks end day little changed

Stocks struggled to a mostly higher finish on Wall Street as gains for energy, phone and industrial companies made up for losses elsewhere.

The Dow Jones industrial average was held back by a loss in Apple. Other indexes closed higher. Hess and Verizon each rose 2 percent.

Some health insurers turned higher as support dwindled for the Senate Republicans’ latest effort to roll back the Affordable Care Act. Molina Healthcare jumped 4.5 percent.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,502.

The Dow fell 9 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 22,349. The Nasdaq rose 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,426.

Small-company stocks did better than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 rose 6 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,450, a record.

The dollar fell, and the pound weakened following U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech on Brexit. The euro gained on strong economic data before Germany votes Sunday.

Crude maintained its rally above $50 a barrel as OPEC members gathered in Vienna.

Central bank policy vied with continued geopolitical tension for investor attention this week. The latter won out Friday after North Korea’s foreign minister suggested the country could test a hydrogen bomb, sparking haven demand.