U.S. stocks ended pretty much where they started Thursday. Investors bought safe picks like phone companies and food makers after a surprisingly weak report on the job market.
Stocks started the day higher. Materials companies climbed after Monsanto, an agricultural giant, soared on reports it might be acquired. The market turned lower in late morning trading as investors worried about the Labor Department’s report, which showed an unexpected jump in the number of people seeking unemployment benefits. Oil wavered between gains and losses, but finished higher for the sixth time in seven days.
“The market is following oil,” said John Cannally, chief economic strategist for LPL Financial. Cannally thinks investors don’t have a lot of confidence in the global economy right now, and will be watching subsequent reports out of China to see if there are more signs that the world’s second-largest economy is continuing to slow down.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.38 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 17,720.50. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dipped 0.35 points, less than 0.1 percent to 2,064.11. The Nasdaq composite index fell 23.35 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,737.33.
The Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level since February 2015. That comes after a disappointing jobs report for April. Applications rose by 20,000 to 294,000. Despite the increase, they have remained below 300,000 for more than a year.
The biggest gains went to phone companies, chemicals makers and consumer stocks. AT&T increased 37 cents to $39.55. Among consumer companies, Kraft Heinz rose $1.14, or 1.3 percent, to $86.34 and Coca-Cola added 37 cents to $45.83.
Monsanto jumped $7.58 to $97.92.
Benchmark U.S. oil, which is at its highest price since early November, gained 47 cents, or 1 percent, to $46.70 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, rose 48 cents, or 1 percent, to $48.08 a barrel in London.
The International Energy Agency said it thinks the global oil surplus will shrink by the year’s end, bringing supply and demand much closer to balance. The price of oil dropped from around $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to as low as $26 a barrel in February and has rallied since then.
