Stocks traded mostly lower Thursday to hover below record highs, as investors took into account more mixed economic data and considered the likelihood of more government spending on infrastructure.
The S&P 500 and Dow each fell to pull back from Wednesday’s all-time highs. The moves came after a new report on weekly jobless claims met estimates, while a separate print on producer price increases came in hotter than expected.
Heading into the session, one of the latest sources of fuel for equities came after the Labor Department’s monthly consumer price index showed that prices rose in-line with expectations in July, gaining 0.5% month-on-month to decelerate from June’s gain. Prices for used cars and trucks and airline tickets slowed markedly, underscoring the moderation in inflationary pressures as the economic recovery matured and an initial wave of pent-up consumer demand was…
