国际英语资讯:U.S. equities eke out modest weekly gains amid economic data, stimulus stalemate_时事

国际英语资讯:U.S. equities eke out modest weekly gains amid economic data, stimulus stalemate

NEW YORK, Aug. 15 -- U.S. stocks posted modest gains in the week, as investors digested a slew of newly-released economic data while grappling with the uncertain fate of the further coronavirus stimulus in the country.

For the week ending Friday, the Dow gained 1.8 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq was up 0.1 percent.

The S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges by total market cap, logged a weekly decline of 2.3 percent.

"We're in a moment in history where few things seem normal, and there are many unknowns," Mitch Zacks, CEO at Zacks Investment Management, said in a note on Saturday.

"This dynamic also means that several economic data points have also moved into 'first-time-in-history' territory," he said, while recommending investors to stay calm and focus on the fundamentals in a chaotic time.

Latest data showed U.S. retail sales in July increased less than expected, indicating spiraling new COVID-19 infections threatened the economic recovery.

U.S. retail sales rose 1.2 percent last month after advancing 8.4 percent in June, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 2-percent increase.

Moreover, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to gauge layoffs, registered 963,000 in the week ending Aug. 8, following an upwardly revised 1.191 million in the prior week, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.