Nasdaq closes at record high

Confidence was a little shaky on Wall Street Thursday.

The Dow rose 85 points. The S&P 500 dipped 2 points after touching an intra-day record high. The Nasdaq tacked on 27 points to a lifetime high.

The market had been much stronger for most of the session but a late-day headline about Pfizer let some of the steam out of the rally.

Pfizer is reportedly cutting planned shipments this year of its COVID-19 vaccine by half, according to the Wall Street Journal. Shares of Pfizer dropped roughly 2 percent.

The Pfizer is news is a reminder of the risks facing the market. Arian Vojdani is an investment strategist at MV Financial.

"A lot of investors are forgetting that there is still a timeframe before vaccines are distributed, before people are back - the world is back exactly to the way it was. We're still going to see pain play out in the economic numbers and potential shock the market and we're going to see volatility."

Economic data released Thursday fueled concern. Jobless claims remain stuck above the peaks of the financial crisis. 712,000 Americans signed up last week for new unemployment benefits. More than 20 million people received jobless assistance in mid-November.

And in another worrisome sign, the Institute for Supply Management's monthly survey of the massive U.S. services sector fell to its lowest reading since May.

Bad news for theater chains. Warner Bros. studio said it will debut all its films next year in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service on the same day. AMC, the world’s largest theater operator, slumped roughly 16 percent. It was an even bigger drop for Cinemark, which tumbled 22 percent.

But on the upside: Boeing. The embattled aerospace giant had its first major order for the 737 MAX since the plane was grounded 20 months ago due to two fatal crashes. Boeing shares rallied roughly 6 percent. Spirit Aerosystems, a major Boeing supplier, jumped 7-1/2 percent.