U.S. stocks waver on economic data

U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range in the morning session Thursday, as Wall Street was digesting a slew of economic data.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 29.53 points, or 0.17 percent, to 17,432.04. The S&P 500 edged up 2.46 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,088.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 14. 18 points, or 0.28 percent, to 5,058.56.

U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July were 446. 5 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.6 percent from the previous month, slightly higher than market expectations.

In the week ending Aug. 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 274,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level, according to U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

U.S. import prices declined 0.9 percent in July, after recording no change from the previous month, the Labor Department said in another report.

Analysts said strong economic data increased the likelihood that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rate in September.

U.S. stocks reversed early big losses to close mixed Wednesday, as investors continued to assess the impact of decision of China's central bank to improve its foreign exchange rate formation system. Enditem