Investing.com – Wall Street showed mixed trade on Thursday with the S&P 500 hovering near the 2,100 psychological level after upbeat employment data and as oil staged a brutal turnaround on crude inventories.
At 16:11GMT, or 12:11ET, the Dow 30 fell 19 points, or 0.10%, the S&P 500 rose less than a point, or 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 12 points, or 0.25%.
On the macro front, U.S. non-farm private employment rose more than expected in June, according to a private report from ADP released on Thursday.
Weekly jobless claims also gave a positive read as the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week registered an unexpected decline.
The upbeat read of the U.S. labor market arrived just before Friday’s release of the June employment report.
After May’s weak reading, the jobs report will be key among a series of data points being eyed by markets to determine if the Federal Reserve (Fed) will be more likely to take a dovish or hawkish stance at its July 26-27 meeting.
According to the minutes of the Fed's June policy meeting released on Wednesday, policymakers agreed that it was “prudent to wait for additional data regarding labor market conditions as well as information that would allow them to assess the consequences of the U.K. vote for global financial conditions and the U.S. economic outlook."
Meanwhile, oil was pummeled by a less-than expected draw on U.S. inventories.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 2.223 million barrels in the week ended July 1. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock decline of 2.25 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a supply decrease of 6.7 million barrels.
Oil, that was trading up more than 1% prior to Thursday’s release, turned negative on the news.
U.S. crude futures sank 3.27% to $45.88 by 16:13GMT, or 12:13ET, while Brent oil slumped 3.18% to $47.25.
In company news, amid Brexit fallout turmoil, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) chief executive Jamie Dimon told an Italian newspaper that the bank could be forced to move thousands of staff from the U.K. if a proper trade agreement is not reached with the European Union.
Whitewave Foods Company (NYSE:WWAV) soared almost 19% after France’s Danone SA (PA:DANO) moved to double the size of its U.S. business with the $12.5 billion acquisition of the American organic food producer.
After the close on Wednesday, Costco (NASDAQ:COST) reported flat comparable sales in June, better than the 1.5% decline expected by the consensus. Shares in the wholesale retail chain jumped almost 5% in Thursday’s trading
PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) gained more than 2% after second quarter earnings per share beat by five cents and revenue also fell less than expected.
Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL), WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC), PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) or Barracuda Networks (NYSE:CUDA) were among those companies set to release quarterly earnings after the market close.