Wall Street closes little changed after quiet session
Major equity indexes in the U.S. swung between losses and gains on Thursday and closed the day little changed.
After Republicans on Thursday presented a new 142-page draft of their bill to repeal Obama health care, the S&P healthcare index .SPXHC gained more than 1% and yesterday's best performer, the Nasdaq biotechnology index, added another 1%.
After losing nearly a total of 4% in the last three days, the S&P energy index .SPNY finally recorded some gains but closed the day lower 0.2% as the oil rebound lost strength in the NA session. Following a rise above the $43 handle, the barrel of WTI settled at $42.75, up 0.5% on the day.
"Oil's had a tough run in the last handful of weeks. I wouldn't say oil being up today gives anybody a high degree of confidence we've seen a floor in oil yet," Michael Scanlon, managing director, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management in Boston, told Reuters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 12.7 points, or 0.06%, to 21,397.29, the S&P 500 lost 2.5 points, or 0.1%, to 2,431.00 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.73 points, or 0.04%, to 6,236.69.
Headlines from the U.S. session:
- US LEI: Nine consecutive months of gains - Wells Fargo
- WTI between a range of $42.00-$44.50 key levels
- US-Japan bond spreads a significant support for the USD/JPY - Scotiabank
- US Pres. Trump: Don't have any tapes of conversations with Comey
- Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: We can do better than what the Republican health care bill promises
- US Trade Rep. Lighthizer: Mexican labor laws need to be addressed in NAFTA renegotiations
- Kansas Fed: Manufacturing activity expanded further with strong expectations for future activity
- Fed's Powell: Fed is committed to increasing the transparency of the stress testing
Author
Eren Sengezer
FXStreet
As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.
