NEW YORK (AP) - Major market indexes are mixed Thursday following a three-day losing streak. Industrial companies are down as heavy machinery maker Caterpillar continues to slide. Health care companies are higher, and banks are rising along with bond yields. Thursday marks the eighth anniversary of the current bull market.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index remained at 2,363 as of 2:25 p.m. central time. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 8 points to 20,847. The Nasdaq composite gave up 1 point to 5,835. Almost three-quarters of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were trading lower.
The S&P 500 is up about 250 percent since March 9, 2009, when it bottomed out in the depths of the financial crisis. The current bull run is the second-longest since World War II.
"Bull markets typically don't die of old age," said David Lefkowitz, senior equity strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas. "They typically die because there's a downturn in the economy."
Lefkowitz said there are few signs that will happen any time soon, as wages are growing and hiring appears to be on the rise. The Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates next week, but he said inflation remains low and the Fed's actions shouldn't stifle economic growth.
"The key question is how quickly does inflation continue to rise from here and how aggressive does the Fed need to get," he said.
Caterpillar fell another $2.03, or 2.2 percent, to $91.20 as the government investigates the company's taxes and accounting. The stock is down almost 8 percent since March 1 after a jump of 36 percent in 2016. Elsewhere, farm equipment company Deere lost 97 cents to $109.50 and American Airlines led airlines lower after it reported weak February traffic. It lost $1.56, or 3.5 percent, to $43.33.
Crude oil prices continued to slip after the U.S. government reported a huge buildup in fuel stockpiles early Wednesday. Oil is now trading at its lowest price since November, before OPEC countries agreed to reduce production in an effort to shore up prices.
Benchmark U.S. oil fell $1, or 2 percent, to $49.28 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 92 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $52.19 a barrel in London.