US stock indices traded mixed at the fourth session of the week amid continued optimism in the market on trade developments between Beijing and Washington, with reports that China started work on cutting tariffs on American cars, in turn bolstering industrial stocks.
The Nasdaq however lost ground amid a bearish trend in the tech sector, while Brexit uncertainty continues to hurt sentiment, in addition to recent threats by President Donald Trump to shut down the federal government if Congress didn't oblige with the border wall.
Earlier US data showed unemployment claims fell 27 thousand in the week ending December 8 to 206 thousand, far below estimates of 226K, while continuing claims for the week ending December 1 rose 25 thousand to 1.661 million.
Import prices fell 1.6%, compared to a 0.5% increase in October, and missing estimates of a 1% drop.
Stock Performance
As of 04:11 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.03%, or 0.29 points to 2,651.36, while Dow Jones inched up 0.18%, or 45.35 points to 24,572.62.
Tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 0.25%, or 19.44 points to 7,078.88.