U.S. stocks end mixed amid economic data, jumping oil

U.S. stocks finished mixed Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average setting new closing record, as investors digested a batch of economic reports and rising oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68.35 points, or 0.36 percent, to 19,191.93. The S&P 500 fell 7.73 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,191.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 72.57 points, or 1.36 percent, to 5,251.11.

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).

"A solid ISM manufacturing report, though shrugged off by markets, likely because the strongest manufacturing of the year still falls short of the 55-60 readings when industrial production growth was brisk in 2010 and 2014," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, in the week ending Nov. 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 said Thursday.

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

The U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday that construction spending during October 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,172.6 billion U.S. dollars, 0.5 percent above the revised September estimate.

Oil prices continued to surge Thursday following previous day's sharp rally, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude jumping about 4 percent.

On Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) 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. Endit