Wall Street today: US stocks decline on mixed economic data, Tesla surges 3.2%

US stocks declined on Thursday after mixed economic data as investors are focussed on the US government’s monthly update on job growth in August.

An Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey showed that services sector activity, a large part of the US economy, rose to 51.5 in August.

In a disappointing report, ADP national employment data showed that private employers hired the fewest number of workers in 3-1/2 years in August.

At 12:03 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 365.31 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 40,609.66, the S&P 500 lost 30.56 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 5,489.51, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 11.79 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 17,072.51.

At 10:11 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.19 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 40,962.78, the S&P 500 gained 15.33 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 5,535.40 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 141.92 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 17,226.22.

As of 9:35 am Eastern time, the S&P 500 was flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 102 points, or 0.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4 per cent higher.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 81.4 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 41056.33. The S&P 500 was flat at 5520.08, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 21.1 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 17063.237.

Among the gainers, electric vehicle maker Tesla was up 3.2 per cent after it said it will launch the full self-driving advanced driver assistance software in the first quarter next year in Europe and China, pending regulatory approval.

AI chip giant Nvidia rose 0.4 per cent after the firm had lost more than 11 per cent in the previous two sessions.

Stocks of Amazon.com rose 3.2 per cent, while Apple and Alphabet added more than 1.2 per cent each.

JetBlue Airways jumped 8.2 per cent after the carrier raised its third quarter revenue forecast.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.73 per cent from 3.76 per cent late oh Wednesday.

Bullion

Gold prices rose on Thursday, fuelled by wide expectations of a deeper US Federal Reserve rate-cutting cycle starting this month.

Spot gold was up 1.0 per cent at $2,518.92 per ounce by 1221 GMT.

Spot silver gained 1.6 per cent to $28.74.

Crude oil

Oil prices inched higher on Thursday, with OPEC close to agreement on postponing a planned production increase.

Brent traded above $73 a barrel.