NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Blue chips gained Thursday, pushing the Dow industrials to their highest close since January 2000, amid solid earnings from GM and a retreat from record oil prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 64.12 to 11,342.89, Charts) rose 0.6 percent, closing at its highest point since Jan. 20, 2000, when the blue-chip indicator finished at 11,351.30. It's also within sight of its all time high of 11,722.98, reached on Jan. 14, 2000.

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The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 1.53 to 1,311.46, Charts) ended the session little changed, just below a nearly five-year high, after trying to surpass that high repeatedly throughout the session.

The Nasdaq composite (down 8.33 to 2,362.55, Charts) lost about 0.4 percent, with the networking sector its biggest drag.

After the close, Google (Research) reported first-quarter sales and earnings that topped estimates, sending its shares higher in extended-hours trading.

Although GM helped support the Dow industrials throughout the day Thursday, a selloff in some of the leaders of the recent advance dragged on the other major gauges. In particular, technology, oil, gold and silver stocks all slipped.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said the slew of positive earnings over the last several days is good for stocks because investors were thinking the Fed may not stop with one more interest rate hike.

"Some investors were rethinking the whole one-and-done strategy," said Ablin. "But earnings are offsetting that."

Thursday's big market mover was General Motors (up $2.07 to $22.64, Research), which soared over 10 percent after it posted an operating profit in the first quarter, excluding all special items.

The struggling automaker said it earned $152 million, or 26 cents a share, excluding all special items, such as charges related to an agreement to change health care coverage for some retirees and their families.

GM's rise was responsible for about a quarter of the Dow's advance.

Other Dow components also reported upbeat earnings. Altria (Research) reported that first-quarter profit that rose 34 percent from a year earlier, thanks to a tax benefit and strong sales at its Philip Morris USA unit. Shares gained 1.6 percent.

Merck (up $0.60 to $35.00, Research) jumped nearly 1.7 percent after reporting higher quarterly profit. The drugmaker also raised its full-year earnings outlook.

But the rest of the market was less upbeat. The Nasdaq composite was particularly weak after hitting a more than five-year high Wednesday. Investors cashed out of networking, Internet and biotech stocks, and also sorted through earnings from a number of industry leaders. (Full story.)

A steep selloff in gold and some declines in silver and oil prices had a big impact on the underlying stocks.

Investors have been pouring money into gold recently as a hedge against inflation and as an alternative to traditional stocks. Other commodity prices have been gaining too. Additionally, the price of crude oil has been rising lately, hitting an all-time trading high Wednesday of $72.40.

This has driven up the price of the gold, silver and oil stocks as well. But Thursday brought a pull back in both the raw commodity prices and the underlying stocks, with investors wanting to cash out after the recent advance.

"You're seeing some profit taking in these areas," said James Awad, president at Awad Asset Management.

"Given the rally in the last few days, you're seeing a lot of hedge funds, institutions, bailing out for reasons unrelated to the fundamentals," he added.

COMEX gold fell $13 to $623 an ounce, a decline of 2 percent.

The Amex Gold Bugs (down $25.90 to $359.40, Research) index, which tracks gold stocks, lost 6.7 percent.

The Philadelphia Gold and Silver (down $9.77 to $150.16, Research) index lost 6.1 percent.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery settled down 22 cents at $71.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil stocks slid in tandem. The Amex Oil (down 10.62 to 1,152.66, Charts) index lost nearly 1 percent.

Apple (up $1.98 to $67.63, Research) was a bright spot among techs, jumping nearly 3 percent after the company posted earnings Wednesday that beat expectations.

But eBay (down $3.58 to $36.77, Research) tumbled almost 9 percent. The online auctioneer said Wednesday its net income dipped 3 percent in the first quarter.

Juniper Networks (down $2.05 to $18.25, Research) slid 10 percent in active Nasdaq trade after the company warned that second-quarter sales would miss forecasts. That overshadowed the company's improved quarterly earnings that met estimates.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers edged out winners on volume of 1.78 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by eight to seven as roughly 2.2 billion shares exchanged hands.

Investors also took in a weekly report on jobless claims that suggested more tightening in the labor market, as well as a weaker-than-expected Philadelphia Fed index, a key regional manufacturing study.

Treasury prices dipped, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising to 5.04 percent, from 5.02 late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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