Midnight Trader | May 23, 2013 04:12PM ET
U.S. stocks closed lower, unable to hold onto a mid-day bounce as traders digested the recent stream of economic data. Stocks started off the day on a bad foot, posting losses as market participants weighed jobless claims and housing data that were better than expectations against an unexpected contraction of Chinese manufacturing activity.
U.S. Jobs
Stateside, data released pre-bell showed that the number of people who applied last week for unemployment benefits fell by 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected new claims to decline to 343,000 from a revised 363,000 in the prior week.
News on the housing front was good as well. Single-family home sales for April weighed in at 454,000, +2.3%, trumping analyst expectations of 430,000. That was the second best showing for new home sales since the beginning of the recession. In addition, the FHFA housing price index showed that March home prices climbed 1.3%.
On a down note, HSBC reported that the flash version of its Purchasing Managers' Index for May fell to a seven-month low of 49.6, down from April's final reading of 50.4. Analysts had forecast the PMI would remain at 50.4. This data hit the U.S. markets in pre-bell trading and set futures sharply lower.
Asia
Overseas, Japanese equities tumbled, suffering their biggest one-day loss in more than two years. The other Asian indexes European markets finished lower.
In commodities, gold rallied, boosted by a declining U.S. dollar, relative the Yen. Gold for June delivery added 1.8%, to settle at $1,391.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was gold's highest close in a week. Oil futures added just a few cents to close at $94.25 a barrel.
Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End
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