Stocks fluctuated on Thursday, finishing the day mixed, as investors weighed the Federal Reserve's new monetary policy strategy, which will focus on maximizing employment and allow inflation to rise above its traditional 2% target rate. The change is likely to keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future. The Labor Department also announced a change in its methodology, starting next Thursday, for reporting weekly unemployment claims. The new methodology is intended to provide more reliable claims data, which some economists believe has been distorted by the sharp jump in claims due to the pandemic. Earlier in the day, the department reported first-time claims of 1.006 million for the week ended August 22, s