Wall Street ends barely higher

US stock indices closed mixed but near record highs, with Dow Jones and S&P 500 marking modest gains today, while tech shares led NASDAQ lower. 

From the US, earlier data showed durable goods order down more than expected in May, while core orders rose below expectations in the same month. 

Similarly, San Francisco Federal Reserve Governor John Williams said in a speech that he expects inflation to hit 2% by 2018, pointing to the strength of the US labor sector, and projecting unemployment rates to continue falling before steadying at slightly above 4% until 2018. 

Williams asserted to the importance of carrying on the tightening agenda by the Federal Reserve to ensure sustainable growth for the economy, while noting the bank doesn't intend to cause ruptures in the global markets, and expecting to start the plan to trim down the balance sheet later this week, mentioning there's no obstacle to increase interest rates and cut down the balance sheet at the same time. 

Dow Jones closed up 0.07%, or 14.79 points to 21,409.55, while Standard and Poor's advanced 0.03%, or 0.77 points to 2,439.07. NASDAQ Composite shed 0.29%, or 18.10 points to 6,247.15. 

Gold futures due on August 16 jumped 0.96% to $1,244.40 an ounce, while the dollar index advanced 0.19% to 97.43 from the opening of 97.26. 

Otherwise, US crude futures due on August 16 rose one percent to $43.44 a barrel from the opening of $43.01, while Brent crude futures due on August 16 rallied 0.83% to $45.92 a barrel from the opening of $45.54.