Wall Street flat as energy shares weigh

U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P retreating from their latest record highs, as a drop in energy shares offset gains in Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart (WMT.N) shares climbed 3.6 percent to $82.05 as one of the biggest boosts to both the Dow and S&P 500 indexes after the retail giant posted a 2.9 percent increase in third-quarter revenue.

But energy names dragged, with the sector .SPNY down 1.7 percent as Brent crude LCOc1 fell below $79 a barrel to its lowest since September 2010, while U.S. crude CLc1 hit a low of $75.14. [O/R]

U.S. weekly initial jobless claims rose to 290,000, above expectations for 280,000, but remained near a 14-year low, and stood below the 300,000 mark for a ninth straight week.

The Dow and S&P 500 had ended slightly lower on Wednesday to break a five-day streak of record closing highs, while the Nasdaq managed to advance. Stocks have rallied of late, but moves have been modest, with the S&P 500 yet to post a gain of more than 1 percent this month.

"It's great to see stocks going up, but at the same time investors are troubled about something, and what they are a little bit troubled about is valuation," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.

"That's why you get this creep higher, not euphoria."

The S&P 500 has rallied more than 9 percent from a six-month low in October, buoyed by supportive economic data and corporate earnings. For the year so far, it is up 10.6 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 39.41 points, or 0.22 percent, to 17,651.61, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.3 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,037.95 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXICadded 1.85 points, or 0.04 percent, to 4,676.98.

J.C. Penney (JCP.N) shares tumbled 9 percent to $7.06 after it reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss Wednesday but said same-store sales were flat and slightly cut its full-year revenue forecast.

Kohl's Corp (KSS.N) lost 4.1 percent to $55.50. The department store operator reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales and profit.

As earnings season winds down, Thomson Reuters data showed that of 460 companies in the S&P 500 to report, 74.6 percent beat expectations, above the 63 percent average beat rate since 1994 and 67 percent for the past four quarters. Earnings overall were expected to grow 10.1 percent over the year-ago period.

DreamWorks Animation shares (DWA.O) jumped 16.5 percent to $26.05 after the New York Times cited sources as saying toymaker Hasbro Inc (HAS.O) was in talks to buy the Hollywood studio. Hasbro shares lost 5.2 percent to $54.46.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) said it would acquire Procter & Gamble Co's (PG.N) Duracell battery business. Procter shares slipped 0.4 percent at $89.13 while Berskhire's Class B shares (BRKb.N) edged up 0.4 percent to $146.14.