US stocks ended mixed today after fresh economic data came nearly within expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45.50 points (0.42 per cent) to 10,779.17 in closing trades, marking an eight-session winning streak that took the blue-chip index to almost 18-month highs.
The Nasdaq composite added 2.19 points (0.09 per cent) to 2391.28 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.39 points (0.03 per cent) to a provisional close of 1165.82.
Analysts said the market reacted to Labor Department data on February consumer prices and new weekly jobless insurance benefit claims that effectively showed the economy continued to slowly regain its strength after a brutal recession.
"The slightly positive reports on jobless claims and consumer prices were offsetting fresh concerns about debt problems in Greece," said Wells Fargo Advisors senior equity market strategist Scott Marcouiller.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
The Labor Department data showed weekly initial unemployment insurance claims at five-week lows and tame inflation, posing little threat to the Federal Reserve's ultra-low interest rate policy.
The consumer price index, a measure of the average change in prices of goods and services purchased by households, was unchanged in February from a 0.2 per cent rise the previous month, the Labor Department said.
Most analysts had expected a 0.1 per cent rise in February.
New claims for jobless insurance benefits edged down last week to 457,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's figures.
The figure was slightly higher than the 455,000 expected by analysts and remains at an elevated level that reflects the troubled labour market.
Stocks dip as investors mull rate moveJobless claims reflect weak recovery
