U.S. stocks end mixed amid economic data

U.S. stocks closed mixed Thursday after wavering between small gains and losses, as Wall Street digested an array of economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.42 points, or 0.10 percent, to 18,419.30. The S&P 500 edged down 0.09 point, or less than 0.01 percent, to 2,170.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 13.99 points, or 0.27 percent, to 5,227.21.

In the week ending Aug. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 263,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 261,000, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

In a separate report, the department reported that U.S. non-farm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 0.6-percent annual rate during the second quarter of 2016, as output increased 1.1 percent and hours worked increased 1.7 percent.

The August purchasing managers' index registered 49.4 percent, a decrease of 3.2 percentage points from the July reading of 52.6 percent, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Thursday.

"The manufacturing slowdown is back. The good news is that it is not worse. Several years of falling farm income, a cyclical peak in auto sales, low and slow global demand means global manufacturers are fighting for bigger slices of a shrinking pie," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Thursday that construction spending during July 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,153.2 billion U.S. dollars, nearly the same as the revised June estimate.

Investors also kept a close eye on Friday's non-farm payrolls report. If the U.S. labor market is robust enough, analysts said it is possible for the U.S. central bank to hike interest rates as soon as September. Enditem