US mkts continue to consolidate amid uninspiring eco data

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18
 
The US markets continued to consolidate amid uninspiring economic data on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 26 points at 11,697. The Nasdaq Composite rose 8 points at 2710 while the S&P 500 Index fell 3 points at 1274. US Declining Sectors: Telecom fell 2.8%, Energy was down 0.7% and financials declined 0.6%. Asian markets opened flat; Kospi, Nikkei, Taiwan and Straits Times were flat. European markets ended mixed: DAX was up 0.6% while FTSE fell 0.4%. CBOE VIX rose 2.2% at 17.4. US Economic News Initial jobless claims went up 18,000 at 409,000, against expected 405,000 Continuing claims were down 50,000 from the prior week to 4.10 million Retailers reported weaker-than-expected December sales; rose 3.1% in December against expected increase of 3.4% Currencies Dollar was up 1% versus Euro at 1.29968 Yen fell 7 bps versus USD at 83.32 Commodities Sugar futures fell 6.1% at USD 0.3024 per pound February crude oil contract shed 2.1% at USD 88.38/barrel on Thursday; were down sharply for last 2 days Crude oil has lost over 4% since 2-year high February natural gas was down 1.1% at USD 4.43 per MMBtu February gold contract went down by USD 2 to USD 1371.7/ounce; declined for a fourth consecutive session Silver was down 7.2 cents at USD 29.13/ounce Baltic Dry Index was down 4.7% Data to watch Nonfarm payrolls report, consumer credit; Fed Chairman Bernanke speaks