Dow Record Remains Elusive

On the research front, ThinkEquity downgraded Nvidia (NVDA Quote - Cramer on NVDA - Stock Picks) to sell from buy and dropped its price target by $5 to $25. The firm also cut Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Quote - Cramer on AMD - Stock Picks) to sell from buy and reduced its target price by $10 to $20. In both cases, the firm cited what it sees as a slowdown at Dell (DELL Quote - Cramer on DELL - Stock Picks).

Meanwhile, Citigroup raised it stock price target for Intel (INTC Quote - Cramer on INTC - Stock Picks) to $24 from $23, while also upping rival AMD's stock price target to $31 from $27.50. Intel rose 1.9% to $20.77, and AMD lost 1% to $25.07.

Elsewhere, crude oil, whose rise of nearly $2 a barrel stalled a Dow rally Wednesday, pushed to $64 before retreating to close down 20 cents at $62.76.

Gold rose $7.60 to close at $610.90 an ounce, and silver was up 3 cents at $11.73 an ounce. Among individual names, Goldcorp(GG Quote - Cramer on GG - Stock Picks) ended higher by 0.3%, while both Glamis Gold(GLG Quote - Cramer on GLG - Stock Picks) and Barrick Gold (ABX Quote - Cramer on ABX - Stock Picks) slipped 0.6%.

Overseas, Europe's equities were mixed. London's FTSE 100 added 0.7% to 5971, and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX lost 0.1% to 5989. Asia's shares inched higher, with Tokyo's Nikkei ending up 0.5% to 16,024 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising 0.1% at 17,530.