Stocks close mixed amid political uncertainty

Stocks closed mixed Thursday as investors shied away from riskier assets amid renewed concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies and didn’t find much to get excited about in the latest batch of earnings reports from U.S. companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.03, or less than 0.1%, to 19,884.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.30, or 0.1%, to 2280.85 and the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.45 points , or 0.1% to 5636.20.

Investors were rattled by the latest news from the Trump administration, including a phone call in which he warned Mexico’s president he might send in troops and another about a tense exchange with Australia’s leader over refugees. Following the Trump rally in the wake of his election victory last November, stock gains appear to be petering out with investors getting jittery in light of Trump’s dramatic policy announcements since taking office.

“Trump’s presidency comes with greater than normal risks,” Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney, said in a report. Eventually, he said “pragmatic pro-growth policies are likely to ultimately dominate populist policies.” However, Oliver added that “the Trump honeymoon with investors is likely over with a short term period of correction/volatility likely to continue in shares, bond yields and the U.S. dollar.”

ADP report may signal strong job tally Friday

Investors are also looking to Friday’s closely watched jobs report, the first that will be under the tenure of President Trump. Economists expect employers created 175,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.7%.

Along with being important to investors as an economic indicator, the report is likely to be politically fraught. President Trump has called for measuring unemployment in different ways, through non-traditional metrics like the labor participation rate or the unemployment rate that includes measurements of workers in part-time jobs who want full-time work.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left interest rates on hold after its latest policy meeting — as investors had expected. Policymakers signaled that they still expect to gradually raise rates but gave no clear timeline. Meanwhile, the Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold at a record low of 0.25% on Thursday but revised up its growth forecasts for the British economy, which has held up better than many forecasters predicted in the aftermath of last June’s vote to leave the European Union.

Fed stands pat on rates, no signal on March hike

U.S. government bond prices were mostly unchanged with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note holding steady at 2.47%.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 3 cents to $53.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, rose 12 cents to $56.92 a barrel in London.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.3% while the CAC 40 in France rose 0.1%. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.7% higher.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.2% as the stronger yen weighed on exporters, while South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.6%.