U.S. equity markets were mixed on Thursday morning as crude oil futures slid below $40 per barrel and the dollar gained against most major currencies as the commodity fell.
Earlier economic reports showed that new claims for unemployment remained near 26-year lows, manufacturing in the Philadelphia region remained weak and that leading U.S. economic indicators fell in December for the fifth time in seven months.
In recent trade, the DOW was lower by 0.26%. The broader S&P 500 was up 0.29% and the NASDAQ 0.35%. The dollar was making a bit of a comeback after its recent steep declines, with gains of 1.05% on the euro, 3.02% on the Yen, 3.13% against the pound and 1.07% on Australia's dollar.
NYMEX crude for January delivery was recently trading 2.95% lower to $38.87 per barrel even after OPEC said it would cut daily production by 4 million barrels.
Gold was giving back some of its recent gains; COMEX futures for February delivery were off 1.69% on the day to $852.80 per ounce.