U.S. market indexes were lower on Thursday as the week’s leading factors kept stocks trading within a tight range. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18448.41 for a loss of -33.07 points or -0.18 percent. The S&P 500 was also lower, closing at 2172.47 for a loss of -2.97 points or -0.14 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5212.20 for a loss of -5.49 points or -0.11 percent. On Thursday, the VIX Volatility Index was just slightly higher at 13.67 for a gain of 0.22 points or 1.64 percent.

Thursday’s Market Movers

Stocks traded in a tight range on Thursday as investors watched sentiment from the Monetary Policy Symposium and healthcare stocks continued to fall on increased drug price scrutiny.

The leading economic reports for the day included durable goods, jobless claims and the PMI Services Flash report. Durable goods were up 4.4 percent. Jobless claims decreased by 1,000 to 261,000. The PMI Services Flash report was unchanged at 50.9 with no growth in the services sector.

Healthcare stocks continued to report losses on Thursday with all of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s healthcare stocks reporting losses.

DJIA healthcare stock losses Thursday:

UnitedHealth Group Inc -1.85 percent
Merck & Co Inc  -0.64 percent
Pfizer Inc              -0.14 percent
Johnson & Johnson         -0.12 percent

Healthcare continued to lead losses in the broad market with the S&P 500 healthcare companies down 0.84 percent for the day. S&P 500 technology companies gained Thursday with an increase of 0.21 percent. Stocks leading gains in the technology sector included the following:

Liberty Media Corp          9.53 percent
Western Digital Corp      2.27 percent
Netflix Inc            2.25 percent

In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.09 points or -0.07 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.03 points or -0.03 percent to 94.74.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 was higher at 1240.00 for a gain of 2.75 points or 0.22 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was higher at 754.01 for a gain of 2.46 points or 0.33 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was higher at 7549.04 for a gain of 9.23 points or 0.12 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was higher at 8771.37 for a gain of 30.25 points or 0.35 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1564.80 for a gain of 3.90 points or 0.25 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 959.81 for a loss of -1.65 points or -0.17 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1285.33 for a loss of -0.98 points or -0.08 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1203.91 for a loss of -1.21 points or -0.10 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 619.59 for a gain of 1.70 points or 0.28 percent.