US close: Markets end Thursday slightly lower

By Sharecast News

Sharecast News | 22 Jun, 2017

22:15 18/11/24

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Wall Street's main indices finished slightly lower on Thursday, against a backdrop of solid readings on the jobs and housing markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.06% at 21,397.29, while the S&P 500 was off 0.05% at 2,434.50 and the Nasdaq 100 lost 0.04% to 5,779.87.

Oil prices were recovering from Wednesday's heavy losses, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.61% to $42.79 a barrel and Brent crude rising 1.04% to $45.29.

Prices slipped into bear market territory earlier in the week amid worries about growing supply from Nigeria, Libya and the US.

They briefly gained ground on Wednesday following a report that Iran's oil minister said Iran and other OPEC members were mulling further cuts, but later fell back.

In economic news, home prices in the US increased by 0.7% month-on-month in April - ahead of a consensus for 0.5% - according to the FHFA.

The Department of Labor reported that initial jobless claims for the week ending on 16 June edged higher by 3,000 to 241,000, just ahead of a consensus forecast for 240,000).

On the corporate front, stock in Oracle was 8.57% higher after the software-maker's co-chief executive officer, Safra Catz, guided towards full-year sales growth next year of between 4% and 6%.

Dow Jones - Risers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $66.02 0.86%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $186.24 0.85%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $136.06 0.85%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $154.80 0.70%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.06 0.53%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $81.34 0.52%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $154.40 0.40%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $103.84 0.36%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $122.17 0.34%
Boeing Co. (BA) $199.50 0.14%