Investing.com – Wall Street struggled for direction ahead of the President’s Day holiday weekend as investors remain unmoved by strong economic data.
The S&P 500 was up over half a point or 0.03% to 2,732.01 as of 9:46 AM ET (14:46 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 16 points or 0.07% to 25,217.05, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose over one and a half points or 0.02% to 7,258.05.
Investors appear to have shrugged off raising inflation concerns, which rattled markets last week. Wall Street ended Thursday on a five-day winning streak, with the Dow closing up more than 300 points. Trading is expected to be thin, as markets will be closed on Monday for the President’s day holiday.
Stocks were little moved by strong housing and import data. Housing starts surged 9.7% in January to 1.326 million, the Commerce Department reported, while the import price index rose 1.0% last month and exports jumped 0.8%.
Beverage firm Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, rising 0.73% after it beat estimates by a penny a share. Meanwhile Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) surged 1.97% while Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) gained 0.95%.
Elsewhere Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) fell 2.75% after a disappointing fourth quarter, while Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) was down 5.78% after missing sales estimates and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) decreased 1.34%.
In Europe stocks were up. In Germany the DAX rose 60 points or 0.49% while France’s CAC 40 increased 52 points or 1.01% and in London the FTSE 100 gained 47 points or 0.66%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 92 points or 0.95% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched up 32 points or 0.97%.
In commodities, gold futures were up 0.10% to $1,356.70 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.29% to $61.16 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.50% to 88.91.