U.S. Stocks Close Mixed Amid Uncertainty About Stimulus Bill

(RTTNews) - Following the pullback seen over the course of the previous session, stocks turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq turned positive after seeing initial weakness, while the Dow and the S&P 500 closed modestly lower.

The major averages finished the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq climbed 66.85 points or 0.5 percent to 12,405.81, the Dow dipped 69.55 points or 0.2 percent to 29,999.26 and the S&P 500 edged down 4.72 points or 0.1 percent to 3,668.10.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders kept an eye on the latest developments in Washington amid lingering uncertainty about a new fiscal stimulus bill.

The House has passed a one-week funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, although lawmakers remain at a stalemate over coronavirus relief.

The impasse partly reflects a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over including aid for state and local governments.

Meanwhile, traders were also reacting to a Labor Department report showing a significant increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 5th.

The report said initial jobless claims jumped to 853,000, an increase of 137,000 from the previous week's revised level of 716,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 725,000 from the 712,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the much bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 873,000 in the week ended September 19th.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed a modest increase in U.S. consumer prices in the month of November.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in November after coming in unchanged in October. The uptick in consumer prices matched economist estimates.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices still edged up by 0.2 percent in November after showing no change in the previous month. Economists had expected core prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.

Sector News

Energy stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, benefiting from a sharp increase by the price of crude oil. Crude for January delivery jumped $1.26 to $46.78 a barrel.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index spiked by 4.2 percent, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index soared by 3.8 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index surged up by 3.4 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.7 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The index reached a new two-year closing high.

Airline, computer hardware and biotechnology stocks also showed notable moves to the upside over the course of the session.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved to the upside following the release of the results of a thirty-year bond auction. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 3.3 basis points to 0.908 percent.

Looking Ahead

Developments in Washington are likely to remain in the spotlight on Friday, overshadowing reports on producer price inflation and consumer sentiment.