Investors awaiting Fed on jobs report

Stocks mixed as decision on again raising rates anticipated

A late burst of buying erased some of the stock market’s losses Thursday, leaving indexes mixed on Wall Street though still on pace to end lower for the week.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent after having been down 1.3 percent earlier in the day. The benchmark index’s positive turn in the last 10 minutes of trading ended a four-day losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also bounced back from an early slide to finish with a 0.5 percent gain, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell

0.3 percent. Several measures of small and mid-size companies also lost ground, including the Russell 2000, which closed 1.2 percent lower.

The mixed finish for stocks comes as traders look ahead to the Labor Department’s latest monthly job market snapshot Friday. The Federal Reserve will consider the August update on job and wage growth as it determines further interest rate hikes in its bid to slow the economy enough to bring down inflation.

“We’ll be able to get a better read on markets tomorrow after that number comes out,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “At least right now, the path of least resistance for markets remains lower.”

The S&P 500 rose 11.85 points to 3,966.85, while the Dow added 145.99 points to 31,656.42. The Nasdaq slid 31.08 points to 11,785.13, its fifth straight drop. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 21.30 points to 1,822.82.

Gains in health care stocks, companies that rely on direct consumer spending and communications services providers helped lift the market. Johnson & Johnson rose 2.5 percent, Target gained 2.8 percent and Netflix added 2.9 percent.

Wall Street is worried that the Fed could hit the brakes too hard on an already slowing economy and veer it into a recession. Higher interest rates also hurt investment prices, especially for pricier stocks such as those of technology companies.

Strong U.S. employment data have helped fuel expectations of more interest rate hikes.

On Thursday, the Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, the latest sign the job market continues to shine despite a slowing U.S. economy.