US close: Wall Street remains in the green

US equity indices lost ground over Thursday's session but remained in positive territory after starting with a bang on the back of the bounce in Chinese stocks and commodities prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 33.2 points or 0.19% higher at 17,548.62, while the S&P 500 ended up 0.23% to 2,051.31 and the Nasdaq Composite 0.26% higher at 4,922.4.

These gains came despite numerous other potential pitfalls, wit the International Monetary Fund cutting its forecasts for US growth, weekly unemployment claims being lower than forecast, further stock price falls from tech colossus Apple, and lingering tentative feelings about Greece's potential deal with its European creditors.

The IMF trimmed its forecast for 2015 gross domestic product growth Stateside to 2.5% from the 3.1% it saw in April.

Initial US unemployment claims rose by 15,000 to reach 297,000 in the week ended on 4 July, according to the US Department of Labor. Economists had been calling for a print of 275,000.

The dollar lost ground to the pound at $1.539, but gained on the euro and the yen.

Bond yields gain, Minneapolis Fed calls for more debt

In bonds, the yield on the benchmark US 10-year note gained eight basis points to 2.27%. Thirty-year US bond yields rose before a sale of $13bn of those instruments by the country’s Treasury Department.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president Narayana Kocherlakota said it could be a good idea for the US government to issue more debt as this would help lift the economy’s long-run neutral rate of interest.

Increasing the supply of assets available to investors “would push downward on debt prices, and so upward on the long-run neutral real interest rate,” Kocherlakota said Thursday in Frankfurt in remarks prepared for delivery at a conference hosted by Germany’s Bundesbank, reported Bloomberg.

Stocks news

Apple extended its losing streak to five days, falling almost 2% as sales of the new Apple Watch reportedly plunged by 90% since the opening week rush. Other reports cited worries about the bursting of China's economic bubble as a key concern for the tech company, with sales of iPhones likely to be affected if consumer demand from the People's Republic wanes.

Health insurer Cigna Corp was the highest riser after reports surfaced that its merger with Anthem Inc was moving ahead. This subsector of the insurance industry has been abuzz with deals in recent weeks, with further rumours spreading that UnitedHealth Group Inc was looking to bid for Cigna, which is already supposed to be in talks with rival Anthem.

Top riser on the DJIA was Travelers Companies after Bank of America upgraded its rating to 'buy' from a previous 'neutral' rating.

Walgreens Boots Alliance was another on the front foot after its third-quarter earnings per share beat expectations.

Coty was one of the most heavily traded issues on the NYSE after the French firm entered into a $12.5bn deal to acquire 43 of Proctor & Gamble’s hair and beauty brands.

Mastercard rose, despite being charged by EU antitrust regulators for two different anti-competitive measures.

Having initially fizzed higher in early trading, PepsiCo lost more than 1% despite raising its earnings forecasts for the year.

S&P 500 - Risers
CIGNA Corp. (CI) $157.23 +4.51%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $13.65 +3.69%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $11.69 +3.40%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $138.96 +3.06%
NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) $49.31 +3.03%
Comerica Inc. (CMA) $49.12 +2.91%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $46.96 +2.67%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $5.51 +2.61%
LyondellBasell Industries (LYB) $97.51 +2.57%
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) $30.50 +2.54%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $1.54 -4.94%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $49.50 -3.32%
Joy Global Inc. (JOY) $31.34 -3.09%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $62.74 -2.86%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $48.23 -2.62%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $17.17 -2.61%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $124.81 -2.53%
Adt Corp (ADT) $32.56 -2.49%
L Brands Inc (LB) $84.00 -2.31%
Windstream Holdings Inc (WIN) $5.51 -2.22%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $100.24 +1.50%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $33.92 +1.42%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $66.28 +1.30%
3M Co. (MMM) $154.10 +0.91%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $98.62 +0.87%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $96.67 +0.86%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $44.62 +0.85%
American Express Co. (AXP) $76.53 +0.78%
Boeing Co. (BA) $143.02 +0.78%
General Electric Co. (GE) $26.08 +0.75%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $120.18 -1.95%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.00 -1.68%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $46.29 -0.62%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $81.86 -0.50%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $81.77 -0.24%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $72.89 -0.23%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $58.03 -0.23%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $80.81 -0.22%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $26.94 -0.19%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $4.81 +4.11%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $40.90 +2.51%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $80.61 +2.43%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $668.99 +2.21%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $188.43 +2.04%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $70.30 +1.94%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $69.03 +1.66%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $3.70 +1.65%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $187.62 +1.64%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $89.00 +1.59%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $49.50 -3.32%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $48.23 -2.62%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $17.17 -2.61%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $124.81 -2.53%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $32.06 -2.42%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $120.18 -1.95%
Nxp Semiconductors Nv (NXPI) $90.56 -1.82%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $115.78 -1.75%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $41.94 -1.69%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.00 -1.68%