Wall Street drifts amid worries about profits, hopes for a just-right economy

Stocks drifted to a mixed finish Thursday as Wall Street's momentum slowed following its hot first half of November.

The S&P 500 edged up by 5.36 points, or 0.1%, to 4,508.24 and remains comfortably on track for its third straight winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 45.74, or 0.1%, to 34,945.47, and the Nasdaq composite gained 9.84, or 0.1%, to 14,113.67.

Walmart weighed on the market with an 8.1% drop after it warned that shoppers began pulling back on spending late last month. The nation's largest retailer also gave a forecast for upcoming holiday profit that was weaker than analysts expected, despite topping forecasts for results in its latest quarter.

Cisco Systems tumbled 9.8% even though it also reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts estimated. The company saw a slowdown of new product orders last quarter, and it gave forecasts for earnings this upcoming quarter and fiscal year that were weaker than analysts expected.

Stocks in the oil-andgas industry were particularly weak after the price of crude tumbled sharply to its lowest since July. Marathon Petroleum dropped 3.5%, and Halliburton fell 3.3%.

November nevertheless remains on track to be the S&P 500's best month in a year on rising hopes for a “Goldilocks” economy that's just right for markets.

Investors are betting inflation is cooling enough to convince the Federal Reserve to halt its hikes to interest rates following its fusillade since last year. That in turn has pushed expectations up for when the Fed could begin cutting rates, which can act like steroids for financial markets.