All three major indexes ended up in positive territory on Thursday, just not as positive as they were earlier in the day. The Dow rose 52 points to 26,815, the S&P 500 ticked up 9 points to 3,246, and the Nasdaq rose 39 points to 10,672. An illustration of the day: At one point, the Dow was up more than 300 points; at another, it was down more than 200, reports CNBC. The Wall Street Journal notes that this has the hallmarks of a market "struggling to find direction."
“People are getting concerned about what kind of economic recovery we’re going to get in the next few months,” Megan Horneman of Verdence Capital Advisors tells CNBC. “Some parts of the economy are doing well and some are slowing down a bit.” The afternoon decline came as a tech rally fizzled. On the other hand, comments from Mitch McConnell that the US would have a January inauguration as usual appeared to ease market anxieties about related comments made by President Trump on Wednesday. (More stock market stories.)