U.S. stocks trade mixed amid data, oil prices

U.S. stocks traded mixed on Thursday, the first trading day in December, as investors digested economic data and rising oil prices.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 71.22 points, or 0.37 percent, to 19,194.80. The S&P 500 lost 1.79 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,197.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 50.18 points, or 0.94 percent, to 5,273.50.

The OPEC on Wednesday decided to cut its oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day, setting the ceiling of oil production at 32.5 million barrels per day.

The reduction is the cartel's first oil reduction since 2008 and is being coordinated with the non-OPEC country Russia, who promised to cut its production by 300,000 barrels per day.

U.S. oil rose 3.84 percent around midday Thursday following the news.

On the economic front, in the week ending November 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 268,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 251,500, an increase of 500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 251,000.

The November purchasing managers' index registered 53.2 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage point from the October reading of 52.1 percent, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Enditem