Stocks end lower after a brief recovery fades

Another day of choppy trading on Wall Street left stocks mostly lower, cutting into the major indexes’ gains for the week.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each lost about 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to eke out a gain of 0.1%. More stocks fell than rose in the S&P 500, and most of the benchmark index’s sectors took slight losses.

The market had edged higher in the early going after a surprisingly good retail sales report for August, but then quickly turned lower and remained there for much of the day. By late afternoon, major indexes had clawed back the ground they lost earlier and turned slightly higher, only to shed some of those gains in the final minutes of trading.

Markets have been choppy as investors shift money between various sectors while they parse any data coming out that could give more clues and signals on the potential direction of the economy and how the Federal Reserve will react.

The central bank will meet next week, and investors will listen closely for any comments about when and how much it will taper support for low interest rates that have helped fuel gains for stocks throughout the year.

“What you’re seeing over the last month has been hesitation to really commit,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist with TD Ameritrade. “Until we have more clarity from the Fed, the pattern will continue.”

The S&P 500 fell 6.95 points to 4,473.75. The index remains within 1.4% of the all-time high it set on Sept. 2. The Dow dropped 63.07 points to 34,751.32, while the Nasdaq added 20.39 points to 15,181.92.

Small company stocks also gave up some ground. The Russell 2000 index slipped 1.54 points, or 0.1%, to 2,232.91.