The US markets ended flat with mostly positive on Thursday. Markets turned in a lackluster performance during trading. The choppy trading on markets came even after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended December 23rd. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 218,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 206,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 210,000 from the 205,000 originally reported for the previous week. While the data added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates, traders remained reluctant to make significant moves going into the end of the year.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a report showing pending home sales were unexpectedly unchanged in the month of November. NAR said its pending home sales index stayed at 71.6 in November after tumbling by a revised 1.2 percent in October. Street had expected pending home sales to jump by 1.0 percent compared to the 1.5 percent slump originally reported for the previous month. On the sectoral front, reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors showed only moves on the day. Gold stocks saw considerable weakness, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbling by 2.5 percent after ending Wednesday's trading at a five-month closing high. The weakness among gold stocks came as the price of gold for February delivery fell $9.60 to $2,083.50 an ounce.
Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 53.58 points or 0.14 to 37,710.1 and S&P 500 was up by 1.77 points 0.04 percent to 4,783.35, while Nasdaq lost 4.04 points or 0.03 percent to 15,095.14.
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