U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed close near their record levels after the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly topped the 40,000 level for the first time.

The Dow ended with a loss of 0.1% Thursday. The S&P 500 index, which is much more widely followed on Wall Street, slipped 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. All three indexes set records on Wednesday amid revived hopes that cooling inflation will allow the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate this year.

Walmart was one of the strongest forces propping up the market after it reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected.

On Thursday:

The S&P 500 fell 11.05 points, or 0.2%, to 5,297.10.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38.62 points, or 0.1%, to 39,869.38.

The Nasdaq composite fell 44.07 points, or 0.3%, to 16,698.32.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 13.21 points, or 0.6%, to 2,096.25.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 74.42 points, or 1.4%.

The Dow is up 356.54 points, or 0.9%.

The Nasdaq is up 357.45 points, or 2.2%.

The Russell 2000 is up 36.47 points, or 1.8%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 527.27 points, or 11.1%.

The Dow is up 2,179.84 points, or 5.8%.

The Nasdaq is up 1,686.97 points, or 11.2%.

The Russell 2000 is up 69.17 points, or 3.4%.