Wall Street ends mixed ahead of monthly jobs data

The US markets lost steam in the last few minutes of trading to close mixed ahead of the monthly jobs data today and after EU officials said no agreement has been reached on additional funding for Greece.

Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.34% or 41.59 points at 12248.55. Nasdaq Composite was up 0.15% or 4.12 points at 2773.31. Standard & Poor's 500 was down 0.12% or 1.61 points at 1312.94.

In economic data from US, initial claims for unemployment fell less than expected. Meanwhile, non farm productivity grew slightly more than previously estimated and factory orders slipped in April the biggest decline in almost a year.

In the economic data to watch out for, the closely watched employment situation for May will be released today. The non-farm payrolls are expected to come at 190,000 a drop from the 244,000 recorded for April. Overall unemployment rate is expected to show a minute drop from 9% to 8.9%. The month on month change of private payrolls is expected to fall to 210,000 from 268,000.

The ISM non manufacturing index for May is expected to show an uptick from 52.8 to 54.

In currency space, the dollar hit a near one-month low against the euro ahead of a forecast showing fewer job additions in US in May, signaling that a slowing economy will prevent the Federal Reserve from tightening policy.

Onto the commodities oil rises, heading for a second week of gains as the dollar weakness against the euro countered a rise in crude inventories.

Copper retreats to its lowest level in one week after data ranging from high jobless claims to lackluster chain-store sales and declining factory orders presented further evidence of a slowdown in the world's largest economy.
Gold futures fell the most in two weeks as the euro climbed, eroding demand for the precious metal as a haven asset. Silver also tumbled. However, they are currently stable in Asia trade.