In a mixed trading session on Thursday, U.S. stock indices managed to climb, buoyed by the release of inflation data. However, these gains were unable to offset the looming prospect of monthly losses for the indices.
On the data front, there was a glimmer of positive news, as U.S. consumer spending for July showed a significant year-over-year increase of 3.3%. This marked an improvement from the previous reading, which reported a 3% uptick. It’s worth noting that consumer spending, despite its increase, remains notably above the targets set by the Federal Reserve, albeit significantly lower than the peak of 7% recorded during the summer months.
When dissecting consumer spending figures while excluding energy and food, there was still a modest rise of 0.2% in July, indicating stability in this key economic indicator.
Furthermore, government data provided a ray of hope on the employment front, revealing a decrease of 4,000 in unemployment claims for the week ending on August 26. This reduction brought the number of claims down to 228,000, representing the lowest level in four weeks.
In the realm of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an uptick of 0.3%, gaining 101 points as of 15:27 GMT, reaching a level of 34,994. Similarly, the S&P 500 notched a 0.3% rise, adding 15 points to reach 4,530, while the NASDAQ Composite Index displayed a 0.5% gain, surging by 75 points to 14,095. Despite these gains, the indices were still grappling with the prospect of monthly losses as the trading day progressed.
