U.S. stock benchmarks on Thursday finished a turbulent session mostly flat and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite eked out small gains to halt a multiday skid. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Averaged booked its third straight drop, representing its longest bout of losses since the five-session period ended June 18. The S&P 500 index
SPX,
+0.13%
closed up 0.1% at 4,406, finishing higher for the first time in three sessions, while the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.11%
closed up 0.1% at around 14,542, booking its first gain in four sessions. The Dow
DJIA,
-0.19%,
however, declined 0.2% to 34,894, weighed by declines in Boeing Co.
BA,
-3.12%,
Caterpillar Inc.
CAT,
-2.55%
and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
GS,
-1.31%.
Investors have grown cautious on stocks as concerns about the delta variant of COVID-19 threaten to dent the global economic recovery. Investors also are worried about the Federal Reserve's plans to taper its monthly purchases of bonds. But it was small-cap stocks that saw outsize losses on Thursday. The Russell 2000 Index
RUT,
-1.22%
of small-cap stocks finished down 1.3%. The performance for markets came even as weekly data showed that jobless claims fell to a pandemic low of 348,000 last week.