US Markets Today: S&P 500, Dow Jones Flat After Open; Dollar Weakens

Wall Street opened largely unchanged on Thursday after Chinese media reported US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping held a phone call amid trade tensions.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average opened flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%.

Nine of the 11 sectoral indices were trading lower with sharp declines in consumer discretionary and consumer staples, with only telecom and information technology in green.

A potential US-China trade thaw allowed investors some respite after fresh US labour data showed jobless claims increased last week. This comes a day after an estimate of private sector payrolls rose slower than expected in May. Both indicate a cooling of the US economy due to tariff-related uncertainties.

Among major companies, shares of Tesla dropped 5%, while Super Micro Computers and drugmaker Moderna were down 3%. Micron Technology gained 5%, while Google parent Alphabet was up nearly 2%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was flat at 4.36%.

The US dollar weakened against major currencies. The dollar index fell 0.4% to 98.44.

The euro gained 0.4% against the greenback after the European Central Bank delivered another 25-basis-point rate cut and indicated the end of the easing cycle. The pound rose 0.4%, while the yen lost 0.2%.

In commodities, spot gold gained 0.2% to $3,379 per ounce.

Oil prices rose as progress in US-China trade talks eased worries about significant output increases from OPEC+. International benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.3% to $65.7 per barrel.

Still, prices have been largely bound to a narrow price range near $65 a barrel since the middle of May.