By Riva Gold and Aaron Kuriloff 

U.S. stocks fluctuated between slight gains and losses Thursday, as energy and materials shares faded with the price of oil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 17833. The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was nearly unchanged.

The moves paused a two-day rally that has lifted the Dow industrials and S&P 500 around 2%, buoyed by gains in the financial sector as investors grew increasingly comfortable with the prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

Energy shares in the S&P 500 reversed an early climb as crude prices fell back below $50 after topping the milestone amid signs of declining U.S. production and a slightly weaker dollar. Materials stocks fell 0.7%. U.S. crude oil was recently up 0.1% at $49.61 a barrel.

Financial stocks in the S&P 500 also declined Thursday, dropping 0.5%. Utilities, telecommunications and consumer-discretionary shares climbed.

"It seems like there's very little consensus out there, so the market seems to get whipped around," said Rob Bernstone, managing director in equity trading at Credit Suisse.

The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.1%, despite declines in the region's banking sector, which had risen nearly 7% in the last two sessions.

Shares in Spain's Banco Popular Español SA dropped over 26% after the lender said it would launch a EUR2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) share sale.

Asian markets were mostly flat despite gains in the energy sector, as investors turned cautious ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Friday.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 0.1% higher, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.1%.

"No one has exact clarity on the Fed," said Mark Harris, head of multi asset at City Financial. "We seem to have rolled from one set of crises to another [this year] and central banks are struggling to deal with these issues," he said.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said Wednesday he would push for the bank to raise rates in the coming months, but not necessarily in June.

"In the near future, unless something changes meaningfully, I'd be advocating taking the next step," Mr. Kaplan said. "There's a cost to running rates this low."

The euro was last up 0.3% against the dollar at $1.1182, while the dollar was down 0.4% against the yen at Yen109.75.

--Alison Sider contributed to this article.

Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com and Aaron Kuriloff at aaron.kuriloff@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2016 12:15 ET (16:15 GMT)