(11 December 2020)DAILY MARKET BRIEF 1:Wall Street Mixed on Friday

<p>US stocks moved mostly sideways on Thursday, with the S&amp;P 500 and the Dow closing lower for the second consecutive session. Nasdaq managed to recover and gained 0.54%. The market reacted promptly to the labor market data that showed initial jobless claims had surged last week by 137,000 to 853,000, while analysts expected an increase to 725,000. This was the highest level since September, suggesting that more stimulus is needed. So far, there are no clear signs that Republicans and Democrats reach consensus in Congress. Still, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that talks between the two parties were making “a lot of progress,” and that’s what helped the benchmark indexes depart from session lows, with S&amp;P 500 falling at one point by 0.75%. It closed only 0.13% lower. The Dow Jones fell 0.23%. Energy was the best performer among the S&amp;P’s 11 major sectors, as oil prices broke above the $50 mark for the first time since the beginning of March. The sector has increased</p>