Investing.com – Wall Street traded with mixed signs on Thursday while investors digested data and continued to watch oil scale positions on the OPEC deal-backed rally.
At 11:56AM ET (16:56GMT), the Dow Jones gained 79 points, or 0.41%, the S&P 500 slipped 1 point, or 0.06% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded down 53 points, or 0.99%.
After surging more than 9% a day earlier after OPEC announced a “shock and awe” deal to cut production and support oil prices, black gold continued the rally on Thursday with gains of more than 4% that took the barrel of West Texas through $51 and allowed Brent to hit a high for the year.
U.S. crude futures jumped 4.47% to $51.65 by 11:58AM ET (15:58GMT), while Brent oil soared 4.86% to $54.34.
On the data front, manufacturing activity in the U.S. gave yet another show of strength as the ISM index rose more than expected.
Jobless claims disappointed with a larger than expected increase, but still remained below the levels associated with a healthy labor market.
The data came ahead of Friday’s employment report, which is expected to cement the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) resolve to hike rates at the December 13-14 meeting.
Indeed, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan said Thursday that “we are at a point that we ought to, in the near future, remove some amount of accommodation.”
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, markets priced in the odds of a rate hike at 100%.
In a slow day for earnings, both Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) and Lands’ End Inc (NASDAQ:LE) disappointed investors with shares slumping 8% and 2%, respectively.
On the upside, both General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motor (NYSE:F) surged around 6% after reporting November vehicle sales in the U.S.
In a major move, shares in CLARCOR Inc (NYSE:CLC) skyrocketed 17% as Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH) announced it would buy the maker of filtration products for $4.3 billion, or $83 a share.