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Stocks were little changed on Thursday following weaker-than-expected housing data, as major indexes recovered from small losses earlier in the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 7.05 points to conclude Thursday at 25,709.74
The S&P 500 sank 2.44 points to 2,808.48
The NASDAQ Composite faded 12.49 points to 7,630.91.
Facebook shares were among the big decliners, sliding 1.4% after a worldwide outage of its core app, Instagram and WhatsApp. The social media company's stock was also under pressure after The New York Times reported federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals the company made with other tech giants.
Apple shares rose more than 1% after Cowen initiated coverage of the company with an outperform rating and a $220 price target. Cowen cited potential long-term upside from Apple's services business.
Snap, meanwhile, rallied more than 11% after BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield — a longtime skeptic of the social media company — upgraded the stock to buy for the first time.
General Electric seesawed after the industrial giant issued weaker-than-expected earnings guidance for 2019. The stock initially fell around 4% in the pre-market before turning around to trade 2.9% higher.
New home sales fell 6.9% in January — which was more than expected and a sign the U.S. government shutdown could have kept buyers on the sidelines.
Media reports are circulating that China and the U.S. are trying to push back a meeting between the countries' two leaders from late March to April at the earliest. This comes after Trump said he was in no rush to form an agreement. Bloomberg's report comes after China's industrial output expanded at its slowest rate in 17 years.
Investors expected the two leaders to meet at Mar-a-Lago later this month as both sides claimed progress was being made on trade negotiations.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were somewhat lower, raising yields to 2.63% from Wednesday’s 2.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices improved 28 cents to $58.54 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $13.80 to $1,295.50 U.S. an ounce.
