Stocks end higher as retailers, smaller companies rise

Associated Press

NEW YORK

U.S. stocks inched higher Thursday as smaller retailers and banks traded higher and energy companies rose with fuel prices. Once again, the market was unable to hang on to more substantial gains from earlier in the day.

Strong reports from companies including L Brands, the parent of Victoria’s Secret, and Bed Bath & Beyond helped retailers. Energy companies rose with the prices of oil and natural gas, and banks recovered some of the sharp losses they took a day ago.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 98 points early in the afternoon. However high-dividend stocks such as phone companies and utilities skidded and technology companies also fell.

Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said investors are feeling uncertain, and that may hold true for at least a few weeks. After a weak auto-sales report Monday, he said investors are wondering how fast the economy is growing and what that will mean for company earnings.

“We expect volatility to be higher than what we experienced in the first quarter,” he said.

It was the second day in a row that stocks slumped during afternoon trading, although the slip Thursday was far less dramatic than the one the day before. That slide started after the Federal Reserve said it may stop buying new bonds later this year and said its policymakers were grappling with whether it would be safe to let inflation rise faster.