Wall Street Steady Ahead of the Holiday

A report that consumers did not increase their spending as much as expected kept Wall Street shares in check on Thursday.

The Commerce Department said that Americans in November spent 0.3 percent more, adjusted for inflation, than the month before. Analysts had forecasted a bump of 0.5 percent, after an increase of 0.4 percent in October. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity in the United States, is seen as a bellwether for the economy.

Separately, the Labor Department said that the number of people applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 420,000. That was in line with Wall Street estimates. Economists say that weekly unemployment applications below 425,000 a week tend to signal modest job growth, but that claims need to fall below 375,000 a week to indicate a significant decline in unemployment.

Also, the Commerce Department reported that November orders for long-lasting manufactured goods, excluding transportation, rose by the largest amount in eight months. Later this morning, investors will get a look at the housing market, with a report on sales of new homes in November. In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 9.24 points, or 0.1 percent. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index lost 0.2 percent, while the technology heavy Nasdaq was down 0.3 percent.

Stocks have shown little momentum in recent days because of the holidays as well and the fact that many major indexes have returned to levels last seen before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, which plunged the financial world into crisis and contributed to a global recession. Bond prices were down slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.38 from 3.35 late Wednesday.

Thursday is the last trading day in the United States before the Christmas holiday, and volume is expected to be thin. Shares overseas were mixed. European equity markets kept within a narrow range on Thursday as volumes dried up ahead of the Christmas break. In Europe, the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.1 percent while the DAX in Frankfurt lost 0.1 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3 percent. Once Thursday’s figures from the United States are out of the way, traders will be preparing for the Christmas break, with many off until the new year. The recent drive-up in stocks over upbeat signs on the American recovery, an easing in tensions in Europe’s debt crisis and greater corporate deal-making has also pushed oil prices up to 26-month highs — above $90 a barrel. Freezing winter conditions in Europe have bolstered crude’s rally.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.6 percent to 22,902.97, as worries over a possible interest rate increase in China cast a pall on the upbeat overseas news. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.