U.S. stocks ended mixed Thursday, as investors received several economic data before U.S. markets are scheduled to close Friday for the holiday weekend. In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department reported that personal income rose 0.3 percent and personal spending rose 0.4 percent in November. Economists expected the report to show that income rose by 0.2 percent in November, and spending to have risen 0.5 percent during the month. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said that November durable goods orders declined 1.3 percent, slightly higher than the expected decline of 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor announced that initial jobless claims fell 3,000 to 420,000 in the week ending on December 18. Claims were expected to increase to 424,000. The new home sales index for November from the Census Bureau rose 5.5 percent to an annual rate of 290,000 from a rate of 275,000 in the previous month. The index was expected to have risen to a rate of 300,000 units. However, sales are still down 21.2 percent from a year ago, indicating a slow recovery. The Thomson Reuters reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment was 74.5 for December, up from 71.6 during the previous month. The December reading was slightly below the median forecast of 74.7 economists expected. The U.S. dollar fell against the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery jumped $1.03 to $91.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $8.40 to $1,3380.50 an ounce. Natural gas prices surpassed the $3 mark Thursday for the first time since October of 2008, as the U.S. national average compiled by motorist group AAA reached $3.013 a gallon. Natural gas prices have risen more than 4 percent from a month ago, and are nearly 16 percent higher than a year ago. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14, or 0.1 percent, to 11,573.49. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.07, or 0.2 percent, to 1,256.77. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 5.88, or 0.2 percent, to 2,665.60.
