NEW YORK: There was little apparent momentum in the opening minutes of US equities trading Thursday, with stock indices muddling along as investors pondered scant economic data.
Positive earnings reports had pushed Wall Street indices to new records in recent weeks, but those effects appeared to have faded.
Instead, traders were left with Labor Department data showing a very slight decline in new unemployment claims last week, an unsurprising result indicating the US labor market continues to recover from last year's pandemic downturn.
"The key takeaway from the report is that the low level of initial claims should help set expectations for another nice pickup in hiring activity" in the November jobs report due in early December, Patrick J. O'Hare of Briefing.com said.
And the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its manufacturing index climbed above expectations last month, though prices also increased as the country deals with a wave of inflation.
US stocks gain after strong October retail sales
About 15 minutes into trading, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 percent at 35,901.51.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 4,697.48, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 15,966.51.
Markets are awaiting a raft of US economic data next week, including durable goods orders, existing home sales and personal consumption expenditures.
Perhaps more eagerly anticipated is the announcement from President Joe Biden, expected before the Thanksgiving holiday, on whether he will reappoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second term at the helm of the central bank.
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