U.S. stock markets avoid first three-day losing streak since early-January

Investing.com - Investing.com -- Stocks on Thursday afternoon inched higher to reverse previous losses, as U.S. markets avoided their first three-day losing streak since early-January.
Led by gains in the utilities, financials and health care, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 all closed higher ahead of the release of Friday's U.S. jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.21% or 38.82 to close at 18,135.72. On Monday, the Dow traded at a record level before falling back over the last two days.
The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, increased 0.32% or 15.67 to close at 4,982.81. At the start of the week, the NASDAQ moved above the 5,000 level for the first time in 15 years.
After finishing lower on five of the last six trading days, the S&P 500 reversed the trend on Thursday as it gained 2.51 or 0.12% to close at 2,101.04.
The information technology sector, however, closed down 0.12% as billionaire investor Mark Cuban made waves by asserting that today's tech bubble is comparatively worse than one that rankled markets in the early 2000s.
"Back then the companies the general public was investing in were public companies. They may have been horrible companies, but being public meant that investors had liquidity to sell their stocks," the Dallas Mavericks' owner wrote on his internet blog. "The bubble today comes from private investors who are investing in apps and small tech companies…There is zero liquidity for any of those investments. None. Zero. Zip."
The top performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average was Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which gained 1.22% or 1.00 to 83.59. The worst performer was McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) which fell back after posting gains on Wednesday when the company announced that it would only use Chicken raised without antibiotics. McDonald's fell 1.27% to 98.98.
On the NASDAQ Composite index, the top performer was Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which gained 5.76% or 6.91 to close at 126.96, following a report from the Financial Times that the Boston-based pharmaceutical company is on the verge of gaining FDA approval on a drug for treatment of cystic fibrosis. The worst performer, meanwhile, was Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 1.66% or 2.13 to 126.41.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Kroger Company (NYSE:KR), which rose 7.05% or 4.91 to 74.56 after reporting $1.7 billion in profits in 2014. The nation's largest supermarket chain reported a 13.8% increase in profits from the previous year, following its acquisition of North Carolina-based grocer Harris-Teeter. Kroger also reported a 5.2% increase in identical store sales, which excludes acquisitions, new or closed stores and fuel costs.
The worst performer was AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV), which lost 5.64% or 3.40 to 56.87, after reports surfaced that the Chicago-based pharmaceutical company is expected to acquire Pharmacyclics Inc (NASDAQ:PCYC) in a $21 billion acquisition. The deal will give AbbVie Inc. access to Imbuvica, one of the world's top selling blood cancer drugs.