Investing.com – U.S. equities closed mixed for a second consecutive session on Thursday, as energy stocks soared while industrials lagged.
US equities ebbed and flowed throughout the session, after comments from new U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on tax reform failed to inspire a broad rally in equities while weaker than expected U.S. initial jobless claims data capped upside momentum.
Mr Mnuchin told CNBC that he wanted to see tax reform passed before Congress' August recess amid growing anxiety among market participants for further details on Trump’s tax reform and fiscal expansion plans.
On the economic data front, the latest U.S. labour market data weighed on equities, after the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims increased by 6,000 to 244,000 in the week ending February 18 from the previous week’s revised total of 238,000 compared to analysts’ estimates of a rise by 2,000 to 241,000 last week.
In corporate earnings news Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) share priced slumped more than 6% to close at $255.99, after the electric carmaker posted a loss per share of 69 cents compared to Wall Street estimates' of a 42 cents loss.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 34 points at 20,810.32 The S&P 500 gained 0.04% and the Nasdaq Composite ticked lower to close at 5,835 down 0.43%. The Dow posted its 10th straight record close.
The top S&P 500 gainers included First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) up 10.8%, and HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) up 8.6%, while Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) added 7.8%.
L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) down 15.8%, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) down 9.2% and United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) slumped 5.6%, were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.