Stocks are closing mostly higher Thursday as gains in technology and industrial companies offset declines elsewhere in the market.

Investors continued to monitor developments in the international effort to keep a deadly new virus outbreak in China from spreading further and potentially hurting the global economy.

Health care stocks, banks and insurers were among the biggest losers.

The S&P 500 index inched up 0.1% to 3,325 after falling as much as 0.6% earlier in the day. The Nasdaq gained 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, weighed down by a steep drop in shares of Travelers Cos.