Stocks couldn't hold on to a brief afternoon gain and wound up ending mostly lower.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each lost about 0.2% Thursday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to eke out a gain of 0.1%.

More stocks fell than rose in the S&P 500, and most of the index's sectors took slight losses.

Industrial and health care companies did the worst, while some retailers rose after the government reported a surprise gain in retail sales last month.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.33% from 1.30% a day earlier.