In afternoon trading on the final day of March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other major indexes showed a narrow performance. While some companies like Nvidia, Super Micro Computer, and Arm could see some window dressing as the first quarter comes to a close, their stocks remained flat to slightly lower on Thursday.

Nvidia, after experiencing a break of the 10-day moving average in higher volume on Wednesday, may face a test of its 21-day line near 877. Meanwhile, Walt Disney and Verizon emerged as the top gainers in the Dow Jones, with gains of over 1%. Disney's stock has been performing well since its earnings gap-up in February, while Verizon is setting itself up in a new base with a buy point of 43.21.

Merck, on the other hand, remained flat in the Dow Jones index despite its shares surging nearly 5% on Wednesday. This surge came after the Food and Drug Administration approved Merck's drug for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

In a surprising turn of events, small caps outperformed with the Russell 2000 index rising by 0.6%. The small-cap index even managed to break out above its March 8 high of 210.41. However, the Nasdaq composite, S&P 500, and Dow Jones showed a mostly flat to slightly lower performance.

Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners on the Nasdaq by nearly 2-to-1, while winners beat losers on the NYSE by more than 2-to-1. Tesla, unfortunately, experienced a 1.7% drop in stock market trading on Thursday as Wedbush analyst Dan Ives lowered Tesla's price target to 300 from 315, despite maintaining an outperform rating.

Among the top gainers in the S&P 500 were Capital One Financial and Discover Financial Services. Both stocks have been showing positive signs after recent breakouts.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin saw a 4% jump, surpassing the $70,000 level. However, leading Bitcoin stock MicroStrategy reversed sharply, declining by over 8%. IBD 50 bitcoin miner CleanSpark also reversed lower, but Coinbase managed to tack on a 3% gain.

Looking back at recent weeks, the stock market has experienced signs of distribution, especially in the S&P 500. The index displayed one stalling session and five higher-volume declines since February 26. Although all of these declines were less than 1%, the Nasdaq saw eight higher-volume declines since February 28, with three of them being 1% or more.

In economic news, jobless claims for the previous week totaled 210,000, slightly lower than the revised figure of 212,000 in the prior week. Economists had anticipated a small increase to 213,000. Q4 GDP received its final revision, coming in at 3.4%, surpassing the consensus estimate of 3.2%.

Within the MarketSurge Growth 250, midcap Zurn Elkay Water Solutions moved closer to a 33.95 buy point, rallying over 2%. Meanwhile, Palantir faced some heat as it fell 6% in the same market, following a downgrade from Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. to sell from neutral with a price target of 20. AvidXchange, a software provider, rallied nearly 2% and is on the verge of a breakout above its February 29 high of 13.56.

As Good Friday approaches, the stock market will be closed, but the bond market will remain open. Investors eagerly await the release of a key inflation report at 8:30 a.m. ET. This report, found within the Personal Income & Spending report, is expected to show a 2.8% increase in the personal consumption expenditures index for February, remaining unchanged from January. The Federal Reserve seeks to achieve a closer alignment with the 2% target.

Amidst these developments, the 10-year Treasury yield ticked lower to 4.19%. After experiencing seven declines in the past eight sessions, the yield now rests on its 50-day line, a critical level of support to monitor.

Overall, the stock market concluded March with a mixed performance, as the Dow Jones showed stability, small caps registered gains, and various key entities experienced both positive and negative movements.