Stocks: The Dow 20,000 watch goes on ... and on

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks ended lower Thursday as health care companies took more losses and investors' Dow 20,000 watch goes on. Software company Red Hat is falling after it reported weak results. Bed Bath & Beyond is down after posting weak sales, and other retailers are also sliding.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished 0.1% lower, down 23 points to 19,918.88, and 81 short of the never-reached 20,000 level. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite lost 0.2 % and 0.4%, respectively.

The economy grew healthy 3.5% in third quarter

Former talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who bought a nearly 10% stake in Weight Watchers last year, sent shares soaring Thursday after saying in a new ad that she’s lost more than 40 pounds on the plan, all while eating pasta and tacos. WTW gained 5.3%.

Chocolate maker Hershey rose after it named Michele Buck its next president and CEO. She is currently Hershey’s chief operating officer and will take the new job on March 1. Current CEO John Bilbrey said in October that he planned to retire as CEO, though he will remain chairman of the board. HSY gained 1.2%.

Alibaba (BABA) fell 2.8% after the U.S. government put the Chinese e-commerce company back on a list of marketplaces that sell large amounts of counterfeit goods and is slow to respond when companies complain about knockoffs. Chinese regulators have made similar criticisms.

Benchmark U.S. crude gained about 0.9% to $52.95 a barrel in New York. Energy companies made modest gains.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 2.56% from 2.54%.

Mortgage rates hit highest levels since 2014

The dollar dipped to 117.43 yen from 117.54 yen. The euro rose to $1.0455 from $1.0427.

Stocks in Europe were also quiet. The DAX in Germany lost 0.2% and France’s CAC-40 fell less than 0.2%. In Britain, the FTSE 100 got a 0.1% lift. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% lower and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.8%. The South Korean Kospi fell 0.1%.