New York: US stocks closed mixed as Wall Street pored through a slew of economic data.
Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.53 points, or 0.07 percent, to 25,383.11. The S&P 500 increased 14.58 points, or 0.48 percent, to 3,044.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 120.88 points, or 1.29 percent, to 9,489.87, news agency reported.
Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors finished higher, with health care and technology up 1.27 percent and 1.18 percent, respectively, outpacing the rest. Financials sank 1.21 percent, the worst-performing group.
The moves came after data showed US consumer spending suffered another record decline in April amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
US consumer spending plunged 13.6 per cent in April after a 6.9 per cent drop in March, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending would plummet 12.6 percent in April.
Multiple data released lately showed the pandemic has severely crippled the U.S. economy.
US initial jobless claims registered 2.123 million in the week ending May 23, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. Over the past 10 weeks, more than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance.
US economic activity in the first quarter contracted at an annual rate of 5.0 per cent in a second estimate, 0.2 percentage point lower than the advance estimate, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 1.73 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 102,000 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
