Stocks end lower on Wall Street, extending weekly losses

Stocks on Wall Street lost more ground Thursday after a small early gain faded, keeping the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq headed for their first weekly decline in three weeks.

The S&P 500 suffered its fourth straight drop. Health care and technology companies were the biggest weights on the benchmark index, offsetting gains by banks and energy stocks.

The S&P 500 dropped 20.79 points, or 0.5%, to 4,493.28. The index is now within 1% of the all-time high it set last Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.69 points, or 0.4%, to 34,879.38, and the Nasdaq composite slid 38.38 points, or 0.3%, to 15,248.25.

Small company stocks fared better than the broader market. The Russell 2000 index gave up 0.60 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,249.13.