Investing.com -- U.S. stocks closed were mixed on Thursday as a midday rally faded late in the session, as the major indices received a reprieve from continuing woes in Chinese equity markets on the first of two days of closures due to the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Composite index pared earlier gains closing significantly below session-highs while the NASDAQ Composite index turned negative late in the session after gaining more than 1% at its peak on Thursday. The Dow added 23.38 or 0.14% to 16,374.76, while the NASDAQ lost 16.48 or 0.35% to 4,733.50 to remain in negative territory for the year. At one point on Thursday, the Dow was up nearly 200 points.
The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, gained 2.27 or 0.12% to 1,951.13, as stocks in eight of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Telecommunications, Consumer Goods and Utilities industries led, each closing higher by more than 0.5%.
In U.S. morning trading, all three major indices surged following dovish comments from European Central Bank head Mario Draghi on a potential expansion of its comprehensive €60 billion a month Quantitative Easing program. During a meeting of the ECB's governing council, the central bank opted to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.5%, while downgrading inflation and GDP projections. Draghi's comments provided strong hints that the ECB could ramp up the bond-buying program to bolster inflation. As a result, the euro fell by 1% against the dollar in the European afternoon session.
The top performer on the Dow was Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which gained 0.52 or 1.82% to 29.12 after the tech giant announced plans to invest $50 million with QuTech in an effort to advance quantum computing. The worst performer was Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 1.76 or 2.31% to 74.31, after fellow mining equipment maker Joy Global Inc (NYSE:JOY) posted worse than expected revenues and earnings last quarter. Joy Global (NYSE:JOY), the worst performer on the S&P 500, plummeted 3.27 or 14.78% to 18.86.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB), which added 1.31 or 3.13% to 43.05, on a strong session across the board for media stocks. Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), however, continued its downturn amid the aftermath of a report from Variety earlier this week that Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) could enter the original programming business. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), the worst performer on the NASDAQ, lost 4.33 or 4.11% to 101.11.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR), which gained 0.30 or 5.66 to 5.51. Shares in Frontier Communications (NASDAQ:FTR) B are still down by more than 25% this year. Joy Global finished just behind Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), which fell 1.65 or 2.31% to 69.90.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,004 to 1,100 margin.