NEW YORK — Stocks struggled to a mixed finish Thursday after weak earnings news from 3M and other companies weighed on the market.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 12 points, but broader indexes posted slight gains. The market had risen steadily in the opening moments of trading after a surprise drop in first-time claims for unemployment benefits, pushing the Dow up as high as 53.
3M set a negative tone with a downbeat view on the economy and a lower forecast for full-year earnings. 3M’s dim assessment of the U.S. and European economies was a sobering reminder that growth in many developed nations remains weak. The maker of such items as Post-It notes and Scotch Tape called growth in those regions “uninspiring.” Its shares fell 6.4 percent.
Apple fell about 1 percent after warning in a regulatory filing that profit margins might narrow next year. Colgate-Palmolive also said it expects sales growth to slow next year.
Not all the corporate news was bad. Eastman Kodak rose 15.4 percent after saying more customers turned to home and office printers. Motorola said its phone division was profitable for the first time in three years as the company bets consumers will snap up more smartphones such as the Droid X.
Avon Products sank 5.6 percent after reporting surprisingly poor results from emerging markets. The beauty- products seller said weakness in Brazil and Russia hurt quarterly profits. Many companies have relied heavily on expansion in developing countries to offset lagging sales in the U.S. and Europe.
Mixed earnings over the past few days sapped energy from an upswing on the stock market, which has been on a nearly unbroken rise since early September.
The Dow fell 12.33, or 0.1 percent, to close at 11,113.95. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.33 point to 1,183.78, while the Nasdaq composite rose 4.11, or 0.2 percent, to 2,507.37.
Not even a falling dollar could provide support for the market. Stocks and commodities have been sensitive to the movement of the dollar in recent weeks. A decline in the dollar makes riskier assets priced in the currency, such as gold, oil and domestic stocks, more attractive to investors.
