US stocks traded higher for the most part on Thursday after Wall Street hit new highs and new daily US coronavirus cases hit a record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 74 points, or 0.13%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.15%. The Nasdaq Composite traded near the flatline.
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Wall Street won on Wednesday when she was 70.
On Thursday traders will examine reports on the labor market and regional industry, the latest economic data for the year.
The Ministry of Labor published the list of new applications for unemployment benefits for the past week. The number of initial jobless claims for the week ending December 25 was 198,000, according to Labor Department data released Thursday, up from a revised 206,000 the previous week. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expected 208,000 total claims.
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The Institute for Supply Management publishes its Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index for December. The closely watched measure of business in the Midwest is projected to climb to 62.0 from a 9-month low of 61.8 in November amid a slowdown in orders. A value of 50 is the dividing line between an expanding and a shrinking manufacturing sector.
In Europe, the London FTSE rose by 0.1%, the German DAX by 0.1% and the French CAC by 0.3%.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.4% in Tokyo and ended the year up 4.9%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% and the Chinese Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6%.
| ticker | safety | Last | change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE VALUES | 36338.3 | -59.78 | -0.16% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4766.18 | -12.55 | -0.26% |
| Me: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 15644.970696 | -96.59 | -0.61% |
Wall Street’s S&P 500 benchmark index rose 0.1% to 4,793.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 36,488.63. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1% to 15,766.22.
The S&P 500 is on track, up more than 27% in 2021. The benchmark, which also broke records on Monday and December 23, hit more new highs in 2021 than any year since the 77 in 1954.
Samsung denied a media report that said the South Korean company was in talks to buy a drug maker Biogenic, Submit the shares of this company up 9.5%. The Biogen share returns 6% in the premarket.
Trading was easier as investors closed positions during the year. Fewer than 3 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, compared to a typical daily average of 4.5 billion.
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In the energy markets, US crude oil, the benchmark in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, lost 63 cents to $ 75.92 a barrel. The contract rose 58 cents on Wednesday to $ 76.56. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, lost 46 cents in London to $ 78.77 a barrel. It closed 29 cents higher than the previous session at $ 79.23.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
