Wall Street ends little changed but mostly higher

U.S. stock indices closed higher on Thursday after a spate of data that showed unemployment claims rose unexpectedly, while durable goods orders rose less than forecast, as core orders fell unexpectedly. 

The U.S. goods trade balance registered a less-than-expected deficit, while wholesale inventories fell unexpectedly in March. Finally, pending home sales fell more than expected last month. 

The earnings season for major U.S. banks and corporations has started in earnest, while investors assess the U.S. administration's plans to cut corporate taxes to 15% from 35% to bring back investments from abroad, while not including any details about how to cover the budget deficit from these cuts.

GDP data are expected tomorrow for the world's largest economy, expected to show a 1.3% growth rate for the first quarter of 2017, down from 2.1% in the last quarter of 2016. 

Dow Jones closed up 0.03%, or 6.24 points to 20,981.33, while Standard and Poor's 500 added 0.06%, or 1.32 points to 2,388.77. NASDAQ Composite climbed 0.39%, or 23.71 points to 6,048.94. 

Gold futures due on July 16 rose 0.10% to $1,265.50 an ounce from the opening of $1,264.20, while the dollar index advanced 0.10% to 99.15 from the opening of 99.05. 

On another note, U.S. crude futures due on June 15 fell 0.79% to $49.23 a barrel from the opening of $49.62, while Brent crude futures due on July 16 gave up 0.37% to $51.63 a barrel from the opening of $51.82.