WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the volatility seen in the previous session, stocks continued to fluctuate over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages once again spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing in negative territory.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 162.04 points or 0.8 percent to 19,298.45, the S&P 500 fell 31.51 points or 0.5 percent to 5,939.30 and the Dow dipped 108.00 points or 0.3 percent to 42,319.72.
Stocks saw some strength earlier in the day after President Donald Trump confirmed in a post on Truth Social that he had an approximately 90-minute phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump described the phone call with his Chinese counterpart as 'very good' and said it 'resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.'
The president also said the two countries' teams will be 'meeting shortly at a location to be determined' and noted the conversation was focused 'almost entirely' on trade.
The phone call between Trump and Xi comes following recent signs of rising tensions between the U.S. and China over the trade agreement reached last month.
However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Economists currently expect employment to increase by 130,000 jobs in May after jumping by 177,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.2 percent.
The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for the economy following yesterday's weaker than expected reports on private sector employment and service sector activity.
With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended May 31st.
Sector News
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves.
Airline and networking stocks saw some weakness on the day, while telecom and gold stocks moved to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.1 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 and the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries pulled into negative territory after seeing early strength. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.9 basis points to 4.394 percent, after hitting a nearly one-month intraday low of 4.318 percent.
Looking Ahead
The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, although any developments on the trade front may also attract attention.
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