NEW YORK, March 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks fluctuated between gains and losses in the morning session on Thursday as Wall Street meditated on a string of economic reports.
Around noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9.95 points, or 0.04 percent, to 25,039.15. The S&P 500 increased 3.35 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,717.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.89 points, or 0.16 percent, to 7,284.90.
U.S. personal income increased 64.7 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.4 percent, in January, above market consensus of a 0.3-percent gain, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
In January, disposable personal income increased 134.8 billion dollars, or 0.9 percent, while personal consumption expenditures increased 31.2 billion dollars, or 0.2 percent.
In the week ending Feb. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 210,000, the lowest since Dec. 6, 1969 when it was 202,000, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.
Investors also kept a close eye on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who is scheduled to deliver the semiannual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday.
On Tuesday, Powell said in his first monetary policy testimony that despite the stock market's recent volatility, Fed governors still plan on hiking rates multiple times throughout 2018.
The new chair signaled the central bank could hike rates more than three times this year should economic and inflation data continue to prove healthy. Enditem