Stocks finished mixed as a favorable read on U.S. jobless claims seemed to help calm recession worries and appeared to partially offset concerns that trade talk progress between the world’s two largest economies may only net a weak result. Treasury yields dipped after a recovery as of late and the U.S. dollar rebounded from yesterday’s drop. Crude oil prices were lower and gold prices rose, while Tesla reported softer-than-expected deliveries and Boeing helped the Dow gain ground.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 167 points (0.6%) to 26,385, the S&P 500 Index was 6 points (0.2%) higher at 2,879, and the NASDAQ Composite decreased 4 points to 7,892. In moderately heavy volume, 713 million shares were traded on the NYSE and 2.1 billion shares changed hands on the NASDAQ. WTI crude oil lost $0.33 to $62.13 per barrel and wholesale gasoline was off $0.02 at $1.95 per gallon. Elsewhere, the Bloomberg gold spot price increased $3.48 to $1,293.44 per ounce, and the Dollar Index—a comparison of the U.S. dollar to six major world currencies—was 0.2% higher at 97.30.
Weekly initial jobless claims decreased by 10,000 to 202,000, versus the Bloomberg forecast of a rise to 215,000, with the prior week’s figure being upwardly revised by 1,000 to 212,000. The four-week moving average fell 4,000 to 213,500, while continuing claims dropped by 38,000 to 1,717,000, south of estimates of 1,752,000.
Treasuries ticked higher, with the yield on the 2-year note little changed at 2.34%, the yield on the 10-year note dipping 1 basis point (bp) to 2.51%, while the yield on the 30-year bond fell 2 bps to 2.92%. Bond yields came off a recent recovery from a drop that fostered a brief inversion of a key point of the yield curve and a flare-up in recession concerns.
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