Stocks waver in thin trading ahead of Christmas
Stocks were little changed in light trading Thursday, as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of Christmas Day holiday. The price of crude oil continued to recover.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 37 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,566 as of 9:50 a.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell three points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,061 and the Nasdaq composite was little changed at 5,046.
ON HOLIDAY: Christmas Eve is almost always the quietest trading day of year. U.S. markets will have an abbreviated trading session on Thursday, closing at 1 p.m. Eastern. U.S. markets will remained closed Friday for Christmas.
ENERGY: Oil prices continued to recover from lows earlier in the week. U.S. crude futures gained 51 cents to $38.01 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, was up 34 cents at $37.70.
Energy stocks didn’t benefit from oil’s climb. The energy component of the S&P 500 index was down 0.8 percent.
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BONDS AND CURRENCIES: The dollar edged lower to 120.35 yen from 120.88 yen a day earlier. The euro rose slightly to $1.0955 from $1.0912. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was unchanged at 2.25 percent.
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