Dow ends at record; Nasdaq rally fizzles amid tech selloff

The Nasdaq's streak of all-time high closes ended Thursday amid a sell-off in tech stocks, but the Dow rode strong earnings from Verizon and others to another record.

The Nasdaq dropped 0.6 percent to close at 6,382.19, ending a three-day run of records, and multiple records over the last two weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at its second straight record at 21,796.55, up 0.4 percent, while the S&P 500 shed 0.1 percent to end at 2,475.42.

The Nasdaq decline came as tech stocks like Apple, Google-parent Alphabet and Netflix were primed for profit-taking after posting handsome gains in recent weeks, analysts said. Those stocks each fell 1.5 percent or more

"You've had a pretty incredible run, and I think you have a general sense that a lot of good news is priced into the market," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities.

Verizon led the Dow, surging 7.7 percent after announcing it generated 614,000 new wireless subscribers in the second quarter, far above analyst expectations.

Procter & Gamble, another Dow component, won 1.6 percent after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profits and projecting higher sales in fiscal 2018.

Boeing, which wowed the market on Wednesday with strong earnings, tacked on 3.2 percent more after winning upgrades from several leading Wall Street analysts.

An exception to the tech sell-off was Facebook, which gained 2.9 percent after reporting a 71 percent increase in second-quarter profits to $3.9 billion on big gains in money-making ads.

In contrast, social media rival Twitter dived 14.1 percent after reporting a loss of $116 million amid flat user growth and falling revenues.

In non-earnings news, retailers were boosted after the White House and congressional Republicans abandoned a border adjustment tax proposal, which had sparked widespread anxiety throughout the industry. Wal-Mart Stores advanced 1.1 percent, Target 2.0 percent and Best Buy 2.7 percent.

Automatic Data Processing surged 9.1 percent following reports activist investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital management took a stake in the business outsourcing company.