NEW YORK: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on Thursday, as market bellwether Nvidia gave up earlier gains, while investors evaluated recent economic data and commentary from Federal Reserve officials to determine the timing of interest-rate cuts this year.
Earlier, the S&P 500 hit the crucial 5,500-point mark for the first time ever, a year-end target multiple brokerages had forecast.
Shares of Nvidia dropped after rising earlier in the session. The chipmaker dethroned Microsoft on Tuesday to become the most valuable public company.
Dell and Super Micro Computer also declined after an initial increase, following news that they received server orders for Elon Musk's AI startup.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, but the latest data showed the number of people on benefits rolls overall was the highest since January, a sign that the U.S. job market continues to cool.
Another set of data showed U.S. single-family homebuilding fell in May amid continued high mortgage rates.
"The news that we got today was just another negative weakness in the economy", said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt in Atlanta.
"In the employment report, you're getting those (unemployment) claims that are not terrible, but it's.. getting into a territory that's not low necessarily anymore."
Energy and utilities were biggest gainers among the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, while technology led the decline.
"There's still a lot of noise in there about supply and demand still isn't really that strong. But there's just been.. a willingness to sort of come back to that area where we're going to be needing energy going forward," said Martin.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said it would take a year or two to get inflation back to 2 per cent, as wage growth might still be too high, spurring worries of interest rates staying elevated for longer.
Money markets currently see a 58 per cent chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the U.S. central bank in September, according to LSEG's FedWatch data.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 14.33 points, or 0.26 per cent, to end at 5,472.70 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 140.17 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 17,722.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 302.37 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 39,137.23.
Kroger fell after striking a cautious tone on near-term consumer spending, as it reaffirmed its full-year same-store sales and profit forecasts despite topping first-quarter estimates.
Trump Media & Technology Group tumbled on potential equity dilution after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declared effective the company's filing for a resale of certain shares and warrants, giving it about US$247 million in proceeds.
