Investing.com – Wall Street traded flat on Thursday after unemployment data confirmed a healthy labor market and investors began to turn attention towards the January employment report.
At 11:48AM ET (16:48GMT), the Dow Jones slipped 20 points, or 0.10%, the S&P 500 dropped 2 points, or 0.09%, while the Nasdaq Composite inched down 3 points, or 0.05%.
Data released Thursday showed that weekly jobless claims fell further than expected to 246,000 in what was its 100th consecutive week below the 300,000 level that is considered to indicate a firming labor market.
The data followed the employment report from private payroll processor ADP on Wednesday that showed a sold gain of 246,000 jobs last month, smashing expectations for the creation of just 165,000.
In that light, market participants were reluctant to make big market moves on Thursday as they turned they attention to the U.S. Labor Department release of its January nonfarm payrolls (NFPs) report at 8:30AM ET (13:30GMT) on Friday.
The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 175,000, following an increase of 156,000 in December, the unemployment rate is forecast to hold steady at 4.7%, while average hourly earnings are expected to rise 0.3% after gaining 0.4% a month earlier.
Markets also kept President Donald Trump under watch, though House Speaker Paul Ryan explained on Thursday that Republican lawmakers will be unable to push through any tax reform or infrastructure bills until the spring. Ever since Trump’s surprise election in November markets have speculated that said fiscal policies would help spur growth.
In company earnings, shares in Merck (NYSE:MRK) jumped nearly 3% after the Dow component reported better-than-expected U.S. quarterly sales for its key cancer drug, Keytruda.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) saw little movement in shares despite beating expectations with no signs of slowdown in subscriber growth.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) will be among companies reporting after the market close.
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) managed to pocket gains of more than 3% after its comparable store sales blew past consensus with a 7% increase in January.
Meanwhile, oil prices ticked higher on Thursday, hitting the strongest level in about a month as traders cheered signs that global supply was beginning to tighten in wake of a planned agreement by major crude producers to cut output.
U.S. crude futures edged forward 0.03% to $53.89 by 11:50AM ET (16:50GMT), while Brent oil advanced 0.25% to $56.94.
Elsewhere, sterling was hit after the Bank of England raised its forecasts for growth and inflation, but indicated that it is comfortable with record low interest rates.
That was despite weakness seen in the dollar against major rivals as investors waited for Friday’s jobs report.