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Stocks- Wall Street Flat After Unemployment Data

Wall Street was mixed on Thursday.
Wall Street was mixed on Thursday.

Investing.com – Wall Street was flat on Thursday, as investor worry over a trade war was offset by better than expected unemployment data.

The S&P 500 was up half a point or 0.01% to 2,749.88 as of 9:44 AM ET (13:4 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 20 points or 0.08% to 24,778.72, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell seven points or 0.10% to 7,489.23.

Trade war concerns have resurfaced among investors, as U.S. President Donald Trump considered imposing tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports.

The news comes just a week after Trump imposed steep import tariffs on steel and aluminum, although Canada and Mexico are exempt as the administration seeks to negotiate a trade deal. More tariffs could increase fears of a global trade war and weigh on investor appetite for riskier assets.

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In economic news, the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell by 4,000 to 226,000. Analysts had expected claims to fall to 230,000.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was among the biggest gainers after the morning bell, rising 3.35% while Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was up 1.14% after it said it wouldn’t pay any Australian corporate tax until 2021. Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) surged 5.72% after reporting higher than expected same-store sales in the fourth quarter.

Elsewhere Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 1.03% while Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) decreased 1.50% and Boeing (NYSE:BA) was down 1.76%, on track for its worst week in two years amid political uncertainty around trade policy. The airline maker does business around the world and investors are worried a trade war would negatively impact the firm.

In Europe stocks were mixed. In Germany the DAX rose 48 points or 0.39% while France’s CAC 40 increased 14 points or 0.27% and in London the FTSE 100 was down half a point or 0.01%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 20 points or 0.21% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched up nine points or 0.28%.

In commodities, gold futures fell 0.54% to $1,318.30 a troy ounce while crude oil futures rose 0.33% to $61.16 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.22% to 89.95.

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