U.S. stocks closed little changed on Thursday as news of hotter-than-expected inflation and signs of labor market strength dampened hopes for early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, but a fall in Treasury yields kept declines in check.
In a choppy session, equities opened higher and the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) briefly surpassed its record closing high of 4,796.56, hit in January 2022, before erasing initial gains.