US Stocks end mixed in choppy trade

The US stocks finished mixed after swinging between slight gains and losses in a choppy trading session on Thursday, 18 June 2020, as risk sentiments were muted after stubbornly high jobless claims data and reports of rising Covid-19 case counts in several states.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.51 points, or 0.15%, to 26,080.10. The S&P 500 index added 1.85 points, or 0.06%, to 3,115.34. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 32.52 points, or 0.33%, to end at 9,943.05.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits edged down last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, though applications remained historically high at 1.5 million.

Several US states have seen a spike in coronavirus cases, and Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina this week have reported record numbers of COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Investors are nervous that increasing cases will undermine efforts to restore the economy by relaxing lockdowns.

Meanwhile, China is grappling with its worst outbreak since the initial one in Wuhan. In Beijing, a new round of cases has reportedly prompted school closures and canceled flights into and out of the city, though authorities have said the outbreak is under control.

Shares of Carnival fell after the cruise-operator reported a quarterly loss of US$4.4 billion (S$6.1 billion) and said it is "unable to definitely predict when it will return to normal operations" following coronavirus restrictions on cruise companies.

Shares of grocery chain Kroger fell despite the supermarket operator reported a 57% jump in quarterly profits to US$1.2 billion, but declined to lift its full-year forecast due to the uncertainty in the wake of Covid-19.

ECONOMIC NEWS: US Leading Economic Index Rebounds Notably In May - US leading economic index jumped by 2.8% in May after plunging by 6.1% in April and 7.5% in March, the Conference Board reported on Thursday. The report said the coincident economic index increased by 1.1% in May following the 10.4% nosedive in April. Meanwhile, the Conference Board said the lagging economic index slumped by 1.9% in May after jumping by 1.7% in April.

Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS fell 1.18% to $9.22, Dr Reddys Labs sank 0.28% to $53.29, and Wipro lost 0.89% to $3.34, while Vedanta added 6.6% to $5.65, WNS Holdings rose 1.2% to $54.99, Tata Motors grew 2.9% to $6.37, HDFC Bank rose 2.4% to $43.75, and ICICI Bank grew 2.9% to $9.24.

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