Yahoo Finance 
S&P, Dow attempt gains; Fed minutes eyed
U.S. stocks traded in a range Thursday as investors awaited the afternoon release of the Fed minutes and the beginning of earnings season in the coming weeks.
"Other than a little pressure in the biotechs again, people are waiting around for the Fed minutes," said Peter Coleman, head trader at Convergex. He noted volume was relatively light compared with previous days.
The Nasdaq underperformed, briefly falling 1 percent as Apple (AAPL) declined more than 1.5 percent and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) (IBB) traded about 3 percent lower.
Netflix (NFLX) spiked more than 2 percent on news that the streaming giant will hike prices on the standard plan by $1 a month to $9.99.
The Dow Jones industrial average struggled to hold higher, with IBM (IBM) and Nike (NKE) contributing the most to gains.
The S&P 500 tried to hold higher, trading within 10 points of the psychologically key 2,000 level. Health care fell about 1 percent as the greatest laggard, while energy jumped more than 1 percent to top materials as the greatest advancer.
"Obviously today will be all about the Fed minutes (and their) discussion about China and the rest of the world, and how severe and how long will the slowdown continue," said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. "If they really paint a sort of bad picture for what they see for the rest of the world, that could be a pretty ugly session."
"I think today's going to be a lot of wait and see," he said, noting his focus will be on multinational names after the Fed minutes.
The Federal Open Market Committee's September meeting minutes are scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m., ET.
Since the meeting was held on Sept. 16 and 17, the minutes won't reflect the central bank's view on last Friday's weaker-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report.
Read More These are the 2 major worries weighing on the market
Many market analysts expected the U.S. central bank to raise short-term interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade at its September meeting. The Fed's decision to hold off on a hike caused great uncertainty in markets about policymakers' views on domestic and global economic conditions.
"The minutes will be a focus. I don't think the minutes will tell us anything new," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. "We've heard from multiple Fed governors and presidents (since the meeting)."
He expects the minutes to say "it was a close call, we were worried about a few of those things but we'd still like to raise rates by year-end."
Investors also eyed the surprising news that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has withdrawn from the race for House Speaker , adding to concerns on Congress' ability to smoothly resolve crucial budget negotiations.
"Obviously we need someone to be Speaker of the House and no one's raising their hand," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. "If it's hard to elect a speaker of the House it's going to be that hard to get something passed."
Read More McCarthy drops out of speaker race; who's left?
Other analysts remained confident Congress would reach a deal on the debt ceiling.
U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, helped by a recovery in health care stocks and gains in energy, as investors awaited the beginning of earnings season.
"We saw the market rally sharply last week off a very significant level of support at the August low," said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital. He noted resistance around the 50-day moving averages.
"The bears are still in control because we're still under levels of support and below the (key) moving averages," he said.
In a light day of economic reports, weekly jobless claims declined to 263,000, a near 42-year low .
Treasury yields held steady in midday trade, with the 10-year yield (U.S.:US10Y) at 2.09 percent and the 2-year yield (U.S.:US2Y) at 0.63 percent.
Treasury Department auctioned $13 billion of 30-year bonds at a high yield of 2.914 percent.
The U.S. dollar traded lower against major world currencies, with the euro near $1.129 and the yen at 119.83 yen against the greenback.
Read More The problem with my $70 oil call
Oil held higher, with crude up more than 3 percent and brent above $52 a barrel.
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index (^STOXX) closed mildly higher. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei (Nihon Kenzai Shinbun: .N225) finished 0.99 percent lower. Mainland Chinese markets reopened after a week-long holiday, with the Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) closing 3.0 percent higher.
On the earnings front, Domino's Pizza (DPZ) reported results that missed on both the top and bottom line. Alcoa (AA), Helen of Troy (HELE) and Ruby Tuesday (RT) are all due to report after the bell.
Read More Early movers: COST, DPZ, CC, SHAK, EMC, BMR, MCD, LL, DB & more
In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) gained 39 points, or 0.23 percent, at 16,951, with Apple (AAPL) leading decliners and DuPont (DD) the greatest advancer.
The Dow transports held nearly 1 percent higher.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) traded up 1 point, or 0.07 percent, at 1,997, with materials leading six sectors higher and health care the greatest laggard.
The Nasdaq (^IXIC) traded down 25 points, or 0.52 percent, at 4,766.
About two stocks advanced for every decliner on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 334 million and a composite volume of 1.6 billion in midday trade.
Crude oil futures for November delivery gained $1.51 to $49.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $5.40 to $1,143.30 an ounce as of 12:22 p.m.
Read More Best stocks to buy if the oil bottom is in
Correction: An earlier version misstated the length of time since the previous record on weekly jobless claims. It was 42 years.
On tap this week:
Thursday
Earnings: Alcoa, Ruby Tuesday
2 p.m.: FOMC minutes
3:30 p.m.: San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams speaks
4:30 p.m.: Fed Balance Sheet/Money Supply
Friday
8:30 a.m.: Import prices
10 a.m.: Wholesale trade
11 a.m.: New York Fed President's William Dudley speaks
1 p.m.: Baker-Hughes Rig Count
1:30 p.m.: Chicago Fed President's Charles Evans speaks
More from CNBC.com:
More From CNBC
Top News and Analysis
Latest News Video
Personal Finance
