NEW YORK: The Dow Jones industrial average rose for a fifth day Thursday, helped by a round of economic data including new jobless claims, while Apple Inc.’s worst day in four years sank the Nasdaq composite.
The S&P 500, which like the Nasdaq counts Apple as its biggest component, squeaked out a 0.01-point gain, its seventh straight advance.
The Dow average climbed 46 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,825.33. Boeing Co., up 1.4 percent, contributed to the blue-chip index’s rise.
“We are seeing better flows from individual investors into equity mutual funds,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds, pointing to data from the Investment Company Institute showing that nearly $13 billion went into domestic equity funds in the two weeks ending Jan. 16.
“There are many investors at this stage who want to be better positioned in equities, because if you look at the risks the equity market faces — particularly the fiscal risk — have diminished,” he added.
In morning trading, the S&P 500 index briefly topped the 1,500 level for the first time since December 2007 before erasing most of its gains.
“There’s nothing specific that happened [to hold the market],” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC in New York. “ ... There’s just been a steady drift lower in virtually every sector.”
Retail, fronted by a 42 percent surge in Netflix Inc. shares — the stock’s biggest gain ever — led gains for the S&P 500. Apple led the tech sector down after the widely held company’s sales forecasts signaled a slowing in what had been rapid growth.
Purchasing managers indexes for China, the eurozone and America all showed improvement in activity. The U.S. in January saw its strongest manufacturing expansion since March 2011.
U.S. weekly jobless claims fell by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000 in the week ended Jan. 19, marking the lowest level since January 2008.
The Conference Board said that its index of leading economic indicators rose 0.5 percent.
Apple ended down more than 12 percent, making the company the top decliner in the S&P 500.
The Nasdaq lost 23.29 points to 3,130.38.