US markets end marginally higher on Thursday

19 Aug 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended marginally higher on Thursday, after swinging between modest gains and losses as mixed economic data failed to spark a broad conviction trade. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a report showing regional manufacturing activity unexpectedly returned to growth in the month of August. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current activity jumped to a positive 6.2 in August from a negative 12.3 in July, with a positive reading indicating growth. Street had expected the index to rebound to a negative 5.0. Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest pullback in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended August 13th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims edged down to 250,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 252,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 265,000 from the 262,000 originally reported for the previous week.

However, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a report showing another significant decrease in existing home sales in the month of July. NAR said existing home sales plunged by 5.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.81 million in July after tumbling by 5.5 percent to a revised rate of 5.11 million in June. Street had expected existing home sales to slump by 4.5 percent to a rate of 4.89 million from the 5.12 million originally reported for the previous month. On the sectoral front, Energy stocks moved sharply higher, however, benefiting from a substantial increase by the price of crude oil. Crude for September delivery surged $2.39 to $90.50 a barrel amid renewed supply concerns. Significant strength was also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.72 points or 0.06 percent to 33,999.04, Nasdaq gained 27.22 points or 0.21 percent to 12,965.34 and S&P 500 was up by 9.7 points or 0.23 percent to 4,283.74.

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