Stocks Barely Move as Bull Market Turns 8

U.S. stocks meandered Thursday as the eighth anniversary for the current bull market turned out to be a quiet one.

Large-company stocks finished mostly higher, but declines in smaller stocks across the board meant that more companies fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

The market started out with small gains, then dipped in the early afternoon. Thanks to late gains for energy companies, major indexes turned higher near the end of trading.

Industrial companies dipped as heavy machinery maker Caterpillar continues to slide. Health care companies climbed and banks rose along with bond yields. Trading was light following a three-day losing streak.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 1.89 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,364.87 Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 2.46 points to 20,858.19. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.25 points to 5,838.81. The Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks lost 5.92 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,360.12. More than two-thirds of the stocks on the NYSE ended lower.

The S&P 500 is up 250 percent since March 9, 2009, when it bottomed out in the depths of the financial crisis. The current bull run is the second-longest since World War II and it may have a while to go, as wages are growing and hiring appears to be on the rise.

Health care companies made the biggest gains. The leaders included Johnson & Johnson, which rose $1.85, or 1.5 percent, to $125.95. Cancer drug maker Celgene added $2.09, or 1.7 percent, to $125.13 while medical device maker Edwards Lifesciences contributed $3.53, or 3.9 percent, to $93.06.

Crude oil prices continued to slip after the U.S. government reported a huge buildup in fuel stockpiles Wednesday. Oil is now trading at its lowest price since November, before OPEC countries agreed to reduce production in an effort to shore up prices.

Benchmark U.S. oil fell $1, or 2 percent, to $49.28 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 92 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $52.19 a barrel in London. Energy companies lost ground early in the day but jumped in the final hour of trading.

Bond prices fell further. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.60 percent, near its highest level in the past year, from 2.56 percent. Banks and other financial firms moved up. Wells Fargo added 49 cents to $58.70 and Intercontinental Exchange picked up 67 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $60.06.

The dollar rose to 114.74 yen from 114.42 yen. The euro rose to $1.0586 from $1.0548.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $1.62 a gallon. Heating oil lost 3 cents to $1.53 a gallon. Natural gas rose 7 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $2.97 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell for the eighth day in a row. It lost $6.20 to $1,203.20 an ounce and the price of silver lost another 26 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $17.04 an ounce. Copper declined 2 cents to $2.58 a pound.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index sank 0.3 percent while German DAX added 0.1 percent and the CAC 40 in France gained 0.4 percent. The CAC 40 has jumped 2.5 percent this month, far more than other major European indexes. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.3 percent as a weaker yen lifted shares of exporters. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.2 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1.2 percent.