U.S. stocks closed mildly higher after wavering between gains and losses Thursday, as Wall Street meditated on a batch of weaker-than-expected economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 79.92 points, or 0.49 percent, to 16,416.58. The S&P 500 gained 2.92 points, or 0.15 percent, to 1,915.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched up 5.32 points, or 0.12 percent, to 4,509.56.
In the week ending Jan. 30, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims increased 8,000 from the previous week's revised level to 285,000, above market consensus of 280,000, the U. S. Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average was 284,750, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average.
In a separate report, the department said that U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 3.0-percent annual rate during the fourth quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in December, down four of the last five months, decreased 13.5 billion U.S. dollars or 2.9 percent to 456.5 billion dollars, the Commerce Department announced Thursday.
The recent weak data raised expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would go slow on future interest rate hikes. Fed official William Dudley said on Wednesday that policy makers are "acknowledging that things have happened in financial markets and in the flow of the economic data that may be in the process of altering the outlook for growth and the risk to the outlook for growth going forward." Analysts said Dudley's remarks hinted that the U.S. central bank may be unable to raise interest rates this year given the country's sluggish economic growth.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 0.88 percent to end at 21.84 Thursday. In other markets, oil prices dropped Thursday as traders started to lock in profit following the big rally of previous session. The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery moved down 56 cents to settle at 31.72 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery decreased 58 cents to close at 34.46 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The U.S. dollar extended losses against other major currencies on Thursday as soft data from the country supported the case for a rate hike delay. In late New York trading, the euro climbed to 1.1207 dollars from 1.1092 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 116.75 Japanese yen, lower than 117.72 yen of the previous session.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose Thursday on a weaker U.S. dollar. The most active gold contract for April delivery added 16.2 dollars, or 1.42 percent, to settle at 1,157.50 dollars per ounce.
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