The S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Thursday after a report that U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller had issued a subpoena for documents related to U.S. President Donald Trump's businesses offset strong jobs and manufacturing data.
The S&P fell to a session low soon after the New York Times report was released but recovered much of its losses by the market close. It has fallen for four straight days, its longest losing streak since December.
The Dow pared some gains but still ended higher for the first time in four days.
As earnings season has drawn to a close, political developments, such as the ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week, have significantly influenced the direction of U.S. stocks.
"The market is looking to bite on something to push it out of its trading range," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
Earlier, the S&P had opened with gains as government data showed weekly U.S. jobless claims fell last week, pointing to a strong labor market. Manufacturing surveys from the New York Fed and Philadelphia Fed also pointed to a tightening labor market.
It also got a boost after Peter Navarro, the White House's top adviser on international trade, said in a CNBC interview Trump's tough approach to global trade, including tariffs on metals imports, would not necessarily provoke retaliation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115.54 points, or 0.47 per cent, to close at 24,873.66, the S&P 500 lost 2.15 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 2,747.33 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 15.07 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 7,481.74.
The S&P industrial index, however, rose 0.3 per cent, leading all sectors, and posted its first session of gains in four days as worries of a trade war eased. Caterpillar was up 1.3 per cent.
Among stocks, Alibaba (BABA.N) jumped 3.4 per cent on a report that the Chinese e-commerce company was planning a secondary listing in China.
Dollar General (DG.N) rose 4.8 per cent after the discount retailer's quarterly same-store sales beat estimates.
Qorvo tumbled 3.9 per cent after Bank of America said the radio frequency chipmaker could lose out to Broadcom for a spot in upcoming iPhones.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.71-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.65 billion shares, compared to the 7.08 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
CANADIAN STOCKS
Canada's main stock index erased most early gains to close little changed on Thursday, as increases in energy shares were offset by declines in metals.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 17.01 points, or 0.11 points, at 15,670.62. Seven of the 10 major sector groups were in positive territory.
Magna International Inc (MG.TO) was the biggest gainer on the index, up as much as 4.3 per cent to $72.79, a two-week high, after the auto parts maker said on Wednesday it would invest US$200 million in U.S. ride-hailing company Lyft Inc and work with it to manufacture self-driving cars.
Energy companies including Spartan Energy Corp (SPTN.TO), Seven Generations Energy (VII.TO) and Raging River Exploration (RRX.TO) were among the 10 biggest gainers, rising 6.3 per cent, 4.6 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.
U.S. crude futures advanced 0.4 per cent to US$61.21 a barrel.
Element Fleet Management (EFN.TO) was the biggest decliner on the index, sliding 24.4 per cent to $3.87, its lowest since December 2011, after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and saying it expected to incur a restructuring charge of about $40 million in the first quarter.
Miners Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), Klondex Mines (KTX.TO) and Detour Gold (DGC.TO) were among the biggest decliners, falling 13.1 per cent, 11.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively.
Gold futures dropped 0.7 per cent to US$1,316.30 an ounce. Copper futures lost 0.95 per cent to US$6,922 a tonne.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is considering adding copper to its list of strategic minerals in a move that would extract higher fees from mining companies, an adviser to the prime minister said on Thursday.
The TSX had 135 advancing issues and 111 declining ones, while four were flat.
