While you were sleeping: UPDATED Stocks steady ahead of US payroll data

Stocks on Wall Street were little changed at the end of a turbulent March quarter and ahead of Friday's US jobs report.

Investors are trying to gauge how cautiously the Federal Reserve might approach interest rate increases this year.

A Labor Department report showed initial jobless claims increased by 11,000 to 276,000 in the week ended March 26. On Wednesday, an ADP Research Institute report showed US private payrolls rose by 200,000 in March, following a revised 205,000 increase the previous month.

"Claims remain at a level that is consistent with low rates of involuntary job separation and this report, similar to other labour market-related releases for March, points to no significant shift in labour market trends at the end of the first quarter," John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York, told Reuters.

Friday's report is expected to show nonfarm payrolls probably rose by 205,000 in March, after a gain of 242,000 in February, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at an eight-year low of 4.9%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 31.57 points, or 0.2% to 17,685.09 at the close. The Nasdaq Composite Index moved less than a point to finish at 4869.85, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was 0.2% lower at 2059.74.

"There's a lot of anticipation around tomorrow's jobs data," Tim Ghriskey, managing director and chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management in New York, told Bloomberg.

"That's keeping investors from either taking new positions or selling existing ones, at least so far. Traders often take a wait-and-see approach if they have already positioned themselves."

Quarter ends in positive territory
A rebound in oil prices, easy monetary policy and better-than-expected US economic data left major indexes with gains for the quarter despite losses from the first six weeks of the year, when stocks fell sharply amid concerns about the global economy and an unclear course for the world’s central banks.

The Dow notched a first-quarter increase of 1.5%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.8%. Many of the sectors hit the hardest at the start of the year, including materials companies, have led the recovery in recent weeks, while oil prices have gained more than 40% from their 2016 lows.

In Thursday's trading, IBM and American Express, up 2.7% and 1.8% respectively in early afternoon trading, outweighed losses in shares of Boeing and those of Intel, down 1% and 0.8% respectively.

Shares of McDonald's rose after the company said it planned to add more than 1500 restaurants in China, Hong Kong and South Korea over the next five years.

"Asia represents a significant area of opportunity for McDonald's to blend our global quality standards with local insights and expertise from partners who share our vision and values," CEO Steve Easterbrook said.

"This will allow McDonald's to accelerate our growth and scale faster across diverse markets placing us closer to our customers and the communities we serve."

China, Hong Kong and Korea collectively represented more than 2800 restaurant locations, the majority of which were company-owned, McDonald's said.

In commodity markets, US crude oil gained less than 0.1% to $US38.34 a barrel. Gold for April delivery rose 0.6% to $US1234.20 an ounce, finishing the quarter up 16%.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 1.1% slide from the previous close. The index has shed 7.7% this quarter, according to Bloomberg.

The UK's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.5%, Germany's DAX Index slid 0.8%, while France's CAC 40 Index dropped 1.3%.

(BusinessDesk)