US stocks see choppy moves ahead of nonfarm data

US stocks saw a mixed session with overall mood being choppy ahead of the release of the all-important nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. Dow added 78.84 points or 0.2 percent to 38,886.17, the Nasdaq slipped 14.78 points or 0.1 percent to 17,173.12 and the S&P 500 eased 1.07 points to 5,352.96. Global cues were supportive. The major European indices gained after the European Central Bank lowered interest rates for first time in nearly five years.

On the US economic front, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly in the month of April. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit surged to $74.6 billion in April from a downwardly revised $68.6 billion in March. This reading on trade deficit marked the largest since the gap reached $75.3 billion in October 2022. The increase in the size of the trade deficit came as the value of imports shot up by 2.4 percent to $338.2 billion in April after slumping by 1.5 percent to $330.2 billion in March.

The US Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged up in the week ended June 1st. The initial jobless claims rose to 229,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000. The less volatile four-week moving average fell to 222,250, a drop of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 223,000. The Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, moved up by 2,000 to 1.792 million in the week ended May 25th.

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