By Riva Gold and Akane Otani 

Stocks retreated Thursday, as a decline in shares of industrial companies offset gains in the energy sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6 points, or less than 0.1%, to 20766, on track for its first loss since Feb. 8. The S&P 500 lost 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%, weighed by a selloff in shares of biotechnology companies.

Hopes for stronger growth under the new U.S. administration have helped fuel the recent rally, which lifted the Dow industrials to nine consecutive records through Wednesday.

President Donald Trump aims to secure a U.S. tax-code overhaul by August, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Wednesday. Mr. Mnuchin added that the administration was committed to boosting U.S. economic growth to at least a 3% annual rate -- a projection not widely shared by other forecasters.

"Growth momentum has improved since last summer, and on top of that, the biggest economy in the world has a new president saying he's willing to spend money," said Florian Ielpo at Swiss fund manager Unigestion.

"We're still very positive on the world economy, not only because of what's happening in the U.S. right now with leading indicators spiking up, but Europe seems to be doing decently and emerging markets seem to have stabilized if not improved," he added.

Some investors remain cautious, however, noting stocks are getting expensive despite a range of political risks on the horizon. Companies in the S&P 500 traded at about 22 times their past 12 months of earnings as of Wednesday, above their 10-year average of 15.8, according to FactSet.

"It feels to me like the market is pricing in a lot more optimism than it should be," said David Lafferty, chief strategist at Natixis Global Asset Management.

Gains in oil prices helped lift shares of energy companies to the top of the S&P 500 on Thursday. The S&P 500 energy sector rose 0.6%, with Transocean and National Oilwell Varco posting some of the biggest gains.

U.S. crude oil jumped 2.2% to $54.77 a barrel.

Shares of industrial companies fell 0.7% in the S&P 500, keeping the index's gains in check. United Rentals fell 3.1% and Ryder System lost 2.6%.

A decline in biotechnology shares dragged the Nasdaq Composite lower. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index fell 1%, on course for its third consecutive session of declines.

Government bonds and their stock-market proxies gained.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note edged lower to 2.386%, according to Tradeweb, from 2.416% Wednesday. Yields fall as bond prices rise.

Shares of utilities companies in the S&P 500, often considered bond-like stocks because of their dividends, rose 0.5%.

The dollar pulled back for a second session. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies, was recently down 0.5%.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1%.

Japan's Nikkei ended flat and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.4%, weighed by a decline in bank shares.

--Ese Erheriene contributed to this article.

Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com and Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2017 11:34 ET (16:34 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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