Investing.com – U.S. stocks traded modestly higher on Thursday, as investors eyed a key House vote on a healthcare bill to repeal and replace parts of Obamacare.
U.S. equities traded higher during early morning trade but gave back most of the gains, as events on Capitol Hill overshadowed the release of a mixed bag of economic data.
President Trump took to twitter in an attempt to encourage Republican constituents to call on their Republic leaders, to support the healthcare bill, which seeks to replace and repeal parts of Obamacare.
President Trump’s efforts to push through this bill is seen by financial markets as a crucial test of his ability to deliver on his legislative agenda, which includes tax reform.
Expectations for pro-growth policies such as tax-reform had been a key driver for the recent rally in U.S. stocks.
On the economic data front, The Commerce Department said on Thursday new home sales increased 6.1 % to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 units last month compared to expectations of a 0.7% increase to 565,000 units.
Elsewhere, initial jobless claims increased by 15,000 to 258,000 in the week ending March 18 from the previous week’s revised total of 243,000 against analysts’ expectations of a drop by 1,000 to 240,000.
In corporate news, Nike (NYSE:NKE) bounced back from its 7% slump in the previous session, shares of the sports retailer last traded at $55.55 up 3.01% by 14:57 EDT.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.35% higher at 20,733. The S&P 500 rose 0.0.33% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.24% to 5,835.