The US markets ended lower on Thursday with the loss of over half percent on account of lingering concerns about the trade dispute between the US and China along with uncertainty about the outcome of this week’s OPEC meeting. Saudi Arabia and Russia are reportedly pushing for an increase in oil production, with OPEC expected to announce its decision on output on Friday. Further, Sentiments were under presser as China's commerce ministry warned that US workers will be hurt by the country’s ‘capricious’ trade actions. Investors remain concerned with the Labor Department report showing a modest decrease in initial jobless claims in the week ended June 16th. The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 218,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 220,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board released a report showing a slightly smaller than expected increase by its index of leading economic indicators in month of May. The Conference Board said its leading economic index edged up by 0.2 percent in May after climbing by 0.4 percent in April. Economists had expected the index to rise by 0.3 percent. Besides, the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index slowed sharply to a reading of 19.9 in June from 34.4 in May. Any reading above zero indicates improved conditions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 196.10 points or 0.80 percent to 24461.70, the Nasdaq dropped by 68.56 points or 0.88 percent to 7712.95 and the S&P 500 was down by 17.56 points or 0.63 percent to 2749.76.
