Markets around the world were mixed but mostly calm.
NEW YORK — The S&P 500 ended Thursday barely changed after stocks sloshed around in mixed trading, as investors make preparations for a future where the Federal Reserve is no longer doing everything it can to keep interest rates super low. Markets around the world were mixed but mostly calm after investors in Asia and Europe got their first chance to react to the Federal Reserve’s signaling on Wednesday that it may start raising short-term interest rates by late 2023. The Fed’s chair also said it began discussing the possibility of slowing its bond-buying program. Such support has been a key reason for the stock market’s resurgence to records, with the most recent coming Monday. The S&P 500 slipped 1.84 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 4,221.86 after earlier meandering from a 0.2 percent gain to a 0.7 percent loss. Most of the stocks in the index and across Wall Street were lower, but gains for Apple, Microsoft and a few other tech heavyweights helped offset the losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 210.22, or 0.6 percent, to 33,823.45, while the Nasdaq composite rose 121.67, or 0.9 percent, to 14,161.35, lifted by the gains for tech and other high-growth stocks. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note gave back nearly all of its spurt from a day before. It fell back to 1.51 percent from 1.57 percent late Wednesday. The two-year yield, which tends to move more with expectations for Fed actions, was steadier. It rose to 0.22 percent from 0.
