U.S. stocks fluctuated between gains and losses on Thursday after minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting showed that it is likely on track to raise interest rates in December.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial (INDEXDJX:.DJI) was down four points at 17,722. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) fell 0.1% to 2,081.03. The Nasdaq Composite (INDEXSP:.INX) was off a couple of points at 5,073.
The minutes of the Fed's October 27-28 meeting showed most participants felt conditions for a rate hike "could well be met by the time of the next meeting."
Health-care and energy-company shares fell while consumer, technology stocks advanced.
Shares of Square (NYSE:SQ) soared 44% to $12.95. The company made its trading debut at $11.20 after the payment processor sold shares at $9 in its initial public offering Wednesday night.
Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) surged 20% to $14.41 in its first day of trade after pricing at $12 in its initial public offering.
Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) fell 2.8% to $30.47 after the electronics retailer reported a sales slowdown at existing stores and warned about a drop in fourth-quarter revenue.
MARKET OPENS LOWER
Wall Street started in sombre mood as traders started to get more jittery about an imminent rate rise.
The Fed minutes last night showed that it was a strong possibility that the central bank would start tightening next month.
The benchmark Dow is down one point at the time of writing as was the S&P500, while the Nasdaq gained one point to 5,074.
Trading in early deals however looked to be fairly choppy.
Square Inc, the mobile payments group run by Twitter's interim CEO Jack Dorsey, surged over 40% as it IPOd after raising about a third less than planned.
It comes after Match Group, the online-dating platform, priced its initial public offering at the low end of expectations to raise $400 million.
In economic news from the States, jobless claims continued to hover around four-decade lows last week, official statistics showed.
MARKET PREVIEW
US shares are poised to continue the momentum today after traders were buoyed on Wednesday at the prospect of a December rate rise.
That date has been hinted at for some time now but the Fed minutes, published yesterday appeared to crystalize the view, giving more certainty and therefore stability to the US's future economic journey.
The benchmark Dow closed out 248 points higher as European indices also surged and today futures trading is 68 points higher.
The S&P500 closed 34 points higher at 2,084 and futures are around eight points higher, while the tech heavy Nasdaq gained 89 at the close and futures are 17 points ahead.
In commodities, Brent crude is up a tad at US$44.07 a barrel, while safe haven gold is 1.06% lower as a result of the rate rise prospect.
Today, eyes focus on the prospect of two tech IPOs today in New York. One is Twitter's Jack Dorsey's Square (SQ) and the other Match Group (MTCH).