Written by Sinéad Carew and Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) - After running between earnings and losses on Wednesday, the S&P 500 waited for the next batch of economic data after investors awaited the next batch of inflation data and the U.S.-China tariff armistice sparked.
Investors are considering more trade developments, while President Donald Trump visited Gulf states and received a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia. Some U.S. tech companies gathered after the government announced AI-related deals in the Middle East on Tuesday.
"Which world leaders, including President Trump, have undetermined uncertainty, noted that earlier tariffs were suspended, but no final deals were made," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder, New York.
"The recent announcement is good, which caused a huge rally, but we still have uncertainty," he said.
U.S. stocks rallied sharply on Monday and rose again Tuesday after being suspended for 90 days in the U.S. and China over a fierce tariff dispute.
It also helped data released on Tuesday show that U.S. consumer prices rebounded moderately in April.
This week, the U.S. announced a 90-day tariff pause for countries outside China on April 9 and last week's limited US-UK trade agreement, which also helped stocks.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Philip Jefferson said Wednesday that the outlook is uncertain even though recent inflation data suggests a move towards the Fed's 2% inflation target. Chicago Fed Chairman Austan Goolsbee said the data does not necessarily reflect the impact of rising tariffs.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell plans to speak on Thursday, and his comments will keep a close eye on clues about how central banks plan to mitigate monetary policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 89.37 points, or 0.21%, to 42,051.06, with its biggest loser being pharmaceutical company Merck & Co, down 4%, and Amgen down 3%.
The S&P 500 scored 6.03 points, or 0.10%, to 5,892.58. This has slightly increased year-to-date earnings since February 28 after its highest annual income last Tuesday. The benchmark is still higher than its record on February 19 than its sixth consecutive day of revenue.
Nasdaq Composite obtained 136.72 points, or 0.72%, to 19,146.81.
Eight of the 11 major industries in the S&P 500 were closed due to healthcare, down 2.31% and materials fell 0.96%, the weakest.
The biggest benefit was communication services, up 1.6% and technology increased by about 0.96%.
Andrew Graham, managing partner and founder of Jackson Square Capital, said Wednesday was a relatively quiet day, with investors staying steady on Thursday morning ahead of April’s producer price index (PPI) and retail sales readings.
"People are looking for any kind of evidence that the tariff situation has leaked into a real economy," Graham said. But he said there was a 90-day suspension of tariff policies and he didn't care about reading the April data.
Megacap and growth stocks rose, with NVIDIA's largest S&P 500 growing, up more than 4%. Chip Designer Advanced Micro Devices shares rose 4.7% after approval of a $6 billion share buyback program.
Boeing shares rose 0.6% when state airline Catar Airways signed a deal to see Trump visit Doha.
In a single stock, the U.S. Eagles stock fell 6.4% after the apparel company withdrew its annual forecast, citing tariff economic uncertainty.
There is a 1.97-to-1 ratio lower on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where there are 132 new highs and 68 new lows.
On Nasdaq stock, 1,612 stocks rose and 2,807 fell as the servings fell more than the 1.74-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 released three new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 104 new lows.
On the U.S. exchange, 19.73 billion shares changed hands, compared with the average of 16.77 billion in the past 20 conferences.
(Reported by Sinéad Carew in New York, Shashwat Chauhan and Pranav Kashyap in Bangalore; Edited by Varun HK and Pooja Desai and Aurora Ellis)