US

STOCKS fluctuated yesterday, with benchmark indices near all-time highs, as investors assessed data on labour, manufacturing and housing to gauge the strength of the American economy.

The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 index rose less than 0.1 percent to 2 068.54 at 11.03am in New York. The Dow Jones industrial average fell less than 0.1 percent to 17 801.81.

“The data this morning isn’t great,” Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities, said. “You might see a pullback because we’re relatively overextended on a short-term basis, but outside some big macro shock to the downside, I don’t see the market pulling back that much.”

Six out of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 increased, with phone and technology companies posting the largest gains. Energy shares slumped the most, dropping 0.6 percent. – Bloomberg