US markets end mostly lower on Thursday

15 Nov 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday on persisting worries around US-China trade relations. Further, declines in Cisco Systems and Walmart also tempered the excitement around markets. The prospect of a US - China trade deal remains the main factor sustaining a rally that has pushed US stocks record highs in the past five weeks. Trump administration officials are frustrated that China has not offered enough concessions to justify a reduction in US tariffs on Chinese goods, a longstanding demand from Beijing that has become further entrenched in recent weeks. Earlier, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said the US and China were holding in-depth discussion on the partial trade agreement, emphasizing that the cancellation of tariffs was important to concluding a deal. However, Trump administration officials confirmed China has ended a ban on American chicken, paving the way for the US to export more than $1 billion in poultry and poultry parts to the Asian country.

On the economic data front, after reporting an unexpected decrease in producer prices in the previous month, the Labor Department released a report showing US producer prices rebounded by slightly more than anticipated in the month of October. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.4 percent in October after falling by 0.3 percent in September. Street had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent. Besides, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for US unemployment benefits increased by much more than expected in the week ended November 9. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 225,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 211,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000.

Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.63 points or 0.01 percent to 27781.96 and Nasdaq declined 3.08 points or 0.04 percent to 8479.02, while S&P 500 was up by 2.59 points or 0.08 percent to 3096.63.

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