Mixed finish for US stocks as Dow ends in positive territory

Better-than-expected jobless claims keeps the momentum going

The U.S. stock market ended a volatile session on Thursday, 08 May 2014 with modest losses but in a mixed mode. Optimism following better-than-expected jobless claims and dovish comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who said the ECB stood ready to act in June, faded by mid-afternoon.

At session highs, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 100 points and topped its previous record close level. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to stay in positive territory by the end of the session, closing 32.43 points, or 0.2%, higher at 16,550.97. The Nasdaq Composite shed 16.18 points, or 0.4%, to 4,051.50. The S&P 500 ended the day down 2.58 points, or 0.1%, at 1,875.63.

Consumer discretionary, financials and technology sectors continued their outperformance throughout the session, while the health care sector swung from a position of relative strength to that of weakness when biotechnology reversed from its session high.

The U.S. dollar index on Thursday hit a multi-month low but then made a strong rebound to trade higher on the day.

The European Central Bank at its monthly monetary policy meeting made no change in ECB monetary policy, as expected. ECB President Mario Draghi said it his press conference following the ECB meeting that the bank could move to lower interest rates or inject more monetary policy stimulus at its meeting in June.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen spoke to the U.S. Congress again today, this time to a Senate committee. Her remarks were about the same as those she made on Tuesday to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. The take away from this week's Yellen comments is that the U.S. economy is on the upswing.

Regarding economic data expected at Wall Street today, the initial claims level fell to 319,000 for the week ending 3 May from an upwardly revised 345,000 (from 344,000) for the week ending April 26. The consensus expected the initial claims level to fall to 325,000. The continuing claims level fell to 2.685 mln for the week ending April 26 from a downwardly revised 2.761 mln (from 2.771 mln) for the week ending April 19, while the consensus expected a decline to 2.750 mln.

In the tech sector, Facebook, FireEye, LinkedIn and Yelp gave an early boost to the technology sector before sliding into the close. Facebook and FireEye ended lower, while LinkedIn and Yelp gave up a good portion of their early gains.

Tesla tumbled 11.3% following its quarterly report that featured a bottom-line beat on deliveries that were on the low end of analyst estimates.

Bullion metals closed lower on Thursday, 08 May 2014 as a drop in weekly U.S. jobless claims helped provide a boost to the stock market. Traders also assessed Congressional testimony given by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Wednesday and Thursday . Her generally upbeat comments on the economy contributed to precious metal's loss. The U.S. dollar index on Thursday hit a multi-month low but then made a strong rebound to trade higher on the day which restricted the drop in bullion prices.

Gold for June delivery fell $1.20, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,287.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Including Thursday's action, prices have lost a total of 1.7%, or $21.60 an ounce, in three sessions. July silver also lost 20 cents, or 1.1%, to $19.14 an ounce after a 1.5% decline in the previous session.

Crude oil futures fell on the back of strong dollar and hefty U.S. crude supplies on Thursday, 08 May 2014 but traders feel that better-than-expected economic data should soon help boost demand.

Crude oil for June delivery lost 51 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $100.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Wednesday. In the banking space, ICICI Bank shed 0.41% at $43.81 and HDFC Bank rose 1% at $41.29. In the IT space, Infosys tumbled 3.73% at $51.30 and Wipro slipped 1.95% at $11.54. In the other sectors, Tata Motors jumped 0.98% at $38.12 and Dr Reddy's Laboratories advanced 0.39% at $45.84.

Tomorrow, the Wholesale Inventories report for March and the March Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will both be released at 10:00 ET.

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