About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged at 31,186.54. — AFP pic
The housing market again showed strength in December, with homebuilding projects jumping 5.8 per cent from the prior month. Meanwhile, new jobless claims fell marginally from the prior week, but remained at 900,000, a stunningly high level some 10 months into the coronavirus pandemic.The broad-based S&P 500 was also flat at 3,851.49, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1 per cent to 13,475.00.