The number of US workers applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, a potential indicator of increasing lay-offs, but by no more than economists expected. Other reports said US workers improved their productivity by more in the northern summer than economists expected, while the US trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in October.
Another winner on Wall Street was Constellation Brands, which climbed 5.3 per cent after the beer and wine company reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
The wins helped work against drops for several technology stocks that held back the overall market. Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after dropping 2.2 per cent and giving back some of its big gain of nearly 40 per cent last year.
All told, the S&P 500 added 0.53 to 6921.46 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 270.03 to 49,266.11, and the Nasdaq composite fell 104.26 to 23,480.02.
Elsewhere, oil prices jumped to continue their zigzags since Trump ousted the leader of Venezuela last weekend.
A barrel of benchmark US crude climbed 3.2 per cent to $US57.76. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.4 per cent to settle at $US61.99 per barrel.
Venezuela is potentially sitting on more oil than any other country in the world, and any increase in production could push further downward on prices, which have already fallen on expectations for plentiful supplies. But billions of dollars of investment are likely necessary to get Venezuela’s ageing infrastructure in good-enough shape to ramp up production sharply.
It’s not just Venezuela where the US military could see action, as Trump talks about “troubled and dangerous times”. The president in recent days has also called for taking over the Danish territory of Greenland for national security reasons and has suggested he’s open to carrying out military operations in Colombia, although he appeared to lower the temperature on that threat overnight.
In stock markets abroad, indexes moved modestly in Europe following a weak finish in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.6 per cent for one of the world’s bigger moves, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2 per cent.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.18 per cent from 4.15 per cent late on Wednesday.
with AP
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