NEW YORK, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages finished mixed on Thursday as investors pored through the newly-released weekly report on U.S. jobless claims.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 361.19 points, or 1.39 percent, to 25,706.09. The S&P 500 was down 17.89 points, or 0.56 percent, to 3,152.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 55.25 points, or 0.53 percent, to 10,547.75.
Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with energy and financials down 4.04 percent and 2.33 percent, respectively, leading the laggards. Technology and consumer discretionary climbed 0.15 percent and 0.11 percent, respectively, the only two gainers.
Meanwhile, U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with eight of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.
On the data front, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 1.314 million in the week ending July 4, following a revised 1.413 million in the prior week, as the pandemic continues to weigh on the labor market, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.
More than 3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with nearly 133,000 deaths, as of Thursday afternoon, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Enditem
