U.S. stocks traded slightly lower toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 edging lower on Thursday.

The Dow traded down 0.03% to 43,283.94 while the NASDAQ fell 0.05% to 20,021.98. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.07% to 6,035.54.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Industrials shares rose by 0.3% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary shares dipped by 0.5%.

Top Headline

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 from the previous week to a reading of 219,000 during the second week of December, compared to market estimates of 224,000.

Equities Trading UP
                       

Equities Trading DOWN

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.2% to $69.98 while gold traded up 0.5% at $2,649.10.

Silver traded up 0.2% to $30.335 on Thursday, while copper rose 0.7% to $4.1375.

Euro zone

In Europe, markets in Germany, France, London, Spain and Switzerland are closed for the Boxing Day holiday.

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 gained 0.17%, Germany's DAX fell 0.18% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.14%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index rose 0.33%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.42%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mostly higher on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 1.12%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.14% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.01%.

Economics

U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 from the previous week to a reading of 219,000 during the second week of December, compared to market estimates of 224,000.

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