Stocks slightly up as Wall Street waits for aid from Washington

NEW YORK » U. S. stocks climbed on Thursday, but only after pinballing through another shaky day of trading, as Wall Street waits to see if Washington can get past its partisanship to deliver another economic rescue package.

The S&P 500 ended the day 17.80 points higher, or 0.5%, at 3,380.80, but it careened from an early 1% gain to a slight loss before arriving there.

TheDow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.20 points, or 0.1%, to 27,816.90 after earlier bouncing between a gain of 259 points and a loss of 112. TheNasdaq composite rose a healthier 159.00 points or 1.4%, to 11,326.51 as big tech- oriented stocks propped up the market, much as they have through the pandemic.

Such big swings have become typical recently, as investors handicap the chances of a deal on Capitol Hill to sendmore cash to Americans, restore jobless benefits for laid- off workers and deliver assistance to airlines and other industries hit particularly hard by the pandemic.

House SpeakerNancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued their talks onThursday, but no breakthrough arrived before stock trading ended on Wall Street. Instead, there were only hopes that were periodically raised and dashed as government officials took turns criticizing each other.

“The market, for lack of really anything else to trade off of, has responded to these headlines on the potential for stimulus,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.