New York (AFP)
Wall Street ended near balance on Thursday, keeping a close eye on trade developments between the US and China and digesting several data on the US economy.
Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.10% to 27,677.79 points.
The Nasdaq, with strong technological color, has grappled 0.05%, to 8,570.70 points, and the expanded S & P 500 index has appreciated 0.15% to 3,177.43 points.
"The road has been quite bumpy this week with two days of significant decline (Monday and Tuesday) and a day of strong growth (Wednesday) .The action today is actually a sign of relief," notes National Art Hogan.
The market has reacted since the beginning of the week at the mercy of the upheavals of the interminable Sino-US commercial series, officials of both countries seem to blow the heat and cold on the progress of negotiations.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump had hinted that a preliminary trade deal with China could be postponed after the US presidential election of 2020.
But on Thursday, the US president assured that the talks were progressing and that "something could happen on December 15", when new US surcharges are supposed to come into effect.
For his part, the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the two sides remained "in close contact" to try to reach an agreement.
Investors have also tried to interpret several US indicators released Thursday.
The US trade deficit fell in October to its lowest level since May 2018, according to data from the Commerce Department.
Affected by persistent trade frictions with China, imports (-1.7% to 254.3 billion dollars) fell to a greater extent than exports (-0.2% to 207.1 billion).
Unemployment benefit claims have fallen to their lowest in seven months, according to weekly figures from the Labor Department.
On Friday, the market will look with interest at the employment figures and unemployment rate for November.
In the bond market, the 10-year US debt rate stood at 1.802% around 9:15 pm GMT, up from yesterday's close of 1.774%.
© 2019 AFP