Major US stock indexes finished trading in positive territory

The main US stock indexes have moderately grown, which was promoted by the rise in price of shares of technological and industrial companies.

The focus was also on the United States. As it became known, the number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits fell last week, which indicates a strong labor market, which continues to tighten. Initial applications for unemployment benefits, a gauge of layoffs across the United States, fell by 2,000 to 236,000, seasonally adjusted for the week to December 2, the Ministry of Labor said. The four-week moving average, a more stable measure, fell along with the main indicator, reaching 241,500 last week. Meanwhile, the number of repeated applications also decreased, falling to 1,908,000 for the week ending November 25. Recently, the number of employees for longer periods of receiving unemployment benefits was near the lowest level since 1973, while weekly applications for unemployment benefits kept below 300,000 for more than 2.5 years, the longest period since 1970 -ies.

The cost of oil rose, restoring most of the positions lost the day before in response to reports of an unexpectedly large increase in gasoline stocks in the US. Recall, the US Energy Ministry said that oil reserves fell last week, but gasoline and distillate stocks increased, and oil production reached a new high. In the week of November 25-December 1, oil reserves fell by 5.610 million barrels to 448.103 million barrels. Analysts had expected a decrease in reserves of 3.404 million barrels.

Most components of the DOW index finished trading in the red (16 of 30). Outsider were the shares of The Coca-Cola Company (KO, -1.53%). Caterpillar Inc. was the growth leader. (CAT, + 1.70%).

Almost all sectors of the S & P index recorded an increase. The industrial goods sector grew most (+ 0.7%). The consumer goods sector showed the greatest decrease (-0.4%).

At closing:

DJIA + 0.29% 24,211.48 +70.57

Nasdaq + 0.54% 6,812.84 +36.47

S & P + 0.29% 2,636.98 +7.71