U.S. stock indexes essentially hit the snooze bar Thursday as investors were relieved the European Central Bank didn’t announce any changes to its stimulus policies.

ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank hasn’t even set a date for considering changes. Investors were startled a month ago when he spoke about scaling back the stimulus program.

On an up-and-down day of trading, second-quarter results moved other stocks: health care companies including Abbott Laboratories climbed and paint, trucking and railroad companies fell.

Sears announced an online appliance sales pact with Amazon.com, and appliance makers and home improvement stores dropped. But overall the market hardly budged. While stocks have been setting record highs for most of 2017, including Wednesday, the market is having its quietest year in decades.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped at the finish and lost 0.38 points to 2,473.45. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 28.97 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,611.78. The Nasdaq composite rose 4.96 points, or 0.1 percent, to a record high of 6,390. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gained 0.58 points to 1,442.35, also a record.

Mortgage rates slip under 4% mark

U.S. mortgage rates declined this week after two straight weeks of increases. The benchmark 30-year rate slipped back below the significant 4 percent level.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average 3.96 percent from 4.03 percent last week. It stood at 3.45 percent a year ago and averaged a record low 3.65 percent in 2016.

The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate home loans, popular with homeowners who are refinancing their mortgages, eased to 3.23 percent from 3.29 percent last week.

Mortgage rates still remain historically low even though the Federal Reserve has begun to ratchet up short-term interest rates.

300 Indiana Carrier workers axed

More than 300 Carrier Corp. workers were laid off Thursday from the company’s Indianapolis factory as part of outsourcing jobs to Mexico that drew criticism last year from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The nearly 340 workers clocked out after their final shifts at Carrier’s gas furnace factory. Another wave of 290 workers will be let go by Dec. 22 under a timetable announced in late May.

Carrier said in February 2016 that it would close the Indianapolis plant and cut about 1,400 jobs in a move expected to save $65 million annually.

Trump repeatedly criticized Carrier’s Mexico outsourcing plan.