Energy sector drops, putting a lid on stocks; Dow closes little changed

Investors also digested the House of Representatives’ vote to pass a bill aimed at repealing and replacing Obamacare.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 217 to 213 after months of struggling to win enough support to move it forward.

The GOP-led House scrapped a previous attempt at repealing and replacing Obamacare in March, raising concerns about when the government would tackle tax reform.

“That will at least get the ball moving” and get the government closer to tax reform, “which is what the market wants,” said Prudential’s Krosby.

Expectations of lower corporate taxes have been a boon for the U.S. stock market since President Donald Trump was elected in November. Since then, the S&P has shot up more than 11 percent.

That said, Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA, is not so sure House Republicans should celebrate just yet. “Even if this bill moves through the House, there will likely be a push-back from the Senate. That’s why you’re not seeing much of a reaction in health care stocks,” she said.

The health care sector traded higher for most of the session and was the second-best performer in the S&P.

Meanwhile, earnings season continued, as social media giant Facebook topped estimates for both profit and revenue, as did Chesapeake Energy and Church & Dwight, among others.

Companies headed into this earnings season with high expectations and most have managed to meet them. More than 70 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported have topped their bottom-line estimates.

Investors also parsed through a slew of economic data on Thursday. Jobless claims fell by 19,000 to 238,000, while productivity for the first quarter fell more than expected. The U.S. trade deficit, meanwhile, narrowed to $43.7 billion. Factory orders, meanwhile, rose less than expected in March.

These data releases culminate on Friday, with the U.S. government posting its monthly payrolls report. Economists polled by Reuters expect the U.S. economy to have added 185,000 jobs last month versus 98,000 in March.

“The good news is the strong jobs growth carried through from the previous administration into the first 100 days of the Trump presidency,” said Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor. “The less good news is … we’re not seeing a big acceleration in wage growth.”

Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones, said Wall Street is looking ahead to Friday’s jobs report for two reasons.

“First, to see whether we can rebound from the weak first-quarter economic growth, and second, to determine whether the [Federal Reseve] can stay on its path towards normalization,” she said.

The Fed kept interest rates unchanged Wednesday after concluding its two-day monetary policy meeting. The central bank also gave the U.S. economy a solid assessment.