Equities ended narrowly mixed Thursday but near the day's highs as the market faced consolidative pressure after its strong advance lately. The Dow Jones industrial average eased 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 firmed 0.2 percent to set another closing high, and the Nasdaq was up 0.3 percent. Bond yields, oil prices and the dollar all declined.

Megacaps including Nvidia outperformed again even as the broad market was mostly weaker. Chipmaker Broadcom had a great day as its upbeat quarterly results and an analyst upgrade added to the buying frenzy around artificial intelligence. Super Micro Computer was another big winner Thursday on the AI trade in response to the Broadcom results. Tesla advanced amid reports shareholders would approve Elon Musk's pay package.

Declining bond yields provided more support for the market after a much better than expected producer price report added to the market's improved sentiment on the inflation outlook after similarly favorable consumer price figures on Wednesday. Yields got another push lower after the 30-year bond auction showed very strong demand, similar to the 10-year note sale Tuesday, with the pricing at a premium to the market at auction time.

Among sectors, best were technology, real estate and utilities. Lagging were industrials, financials, health care, energy and communications services.

Market Reflections track market reaction to the trading day's major events. Economic data, policymaker speeches, and company news are featured in this report as well as key indexes and financial instruments.

Understanding why markets respond as they do is fundamental for an investor. Market Reflections help explain how the day's events, news, and data impact the outlook for the economy and for market prices.