By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow closed just below the flatline Thursday, but remained close to record highs as investors weighed weakness in energy against strength in technology and growing optimism for another injection of stimulus to support to recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.02% or 7 points after hitting an intraday all-time high of 31,543.82. The S&P 500 was up 0.22%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.38% to close at a record high.
Energy led the broader market decline as oil prices slipped on renewed demand concerns after OPEC lowered its forecast on global oil demand.
OPEC forecast oil demand to increase about 5.8 million barrels per day to just below 96.1 million bpd, down 0.1 million bpd from a previous forecast, citing downward revisions in the OECD region and the impact of extended lockdowns.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), Apache (NASDAQ:APA), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) were among the biggest decliners in the energy sector, each ended the day down by more than 3%.
Yet, Wall Street remains bullish on the global demand outlook. Goldman Sachs said earlier this week it expects global oil demand will recover by the end of 2022 and maintained its forecast for WTI to rise above $60 per barrel later this year.
Financials also took a breather after racking up gains recently even as U.S. Treasury yields held steady.
Citigroup (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) ended below the flatline.
The day of weakness for most cyclicals stocks followed a smaller-than-expected decline in weekly jobless claims.
Economists, however, were quick to downplay the weaker headline number, noting that claims remained well below their January peak at a time when another potential round of stimulus will boost the labor market recovery.
"A declining pace of job destruction, furthermore, suggests that the U.S. labor market is on the mend after a second-round resurgence of the virus complicated the recovery near year-end with a further round of restrictions resulting in business closures and layoffs," Stifel said in a note.
Sentiment on stocks were also supported by ongoing decline in U.S. virus cases and a pick up the pace of the vaccine rollouts that will likely lead to a stronger-than-expected reopening.
The Reddit-led bid up in cannabis stocks a day earlier ran out of steam, with Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY), Aphria (TSX:APHA) and Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) down sharply.
In other news, Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL), the dating app company, soared on its debut, trading well above its IPO price of $43.