NEW YORK - US share prices drifted mainly higher at the opening of an abbreviated pre-holiday session on Wednesday as traders shrugged off another round of weak economic data.
In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 35.92 points (0.43 per cent) to 8,455.41 and the Nasdaq dipped a fractional 0.37 points (0.02 per cent) to 1,521.17.
The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index increased 1.63 points (0.19 per cent) to 864.79.
The market was set to close early ahead of the Christmas holiday.
The Commerce Department reported personal income contracted 0.2 per cent in November from the previous month while consumption expenditures shrank 0.6 per cent, in a further sign of consumer retrenchment.
On the labour front, a separate report showed new US weekly jobless claims rose by 30,000 over the past week to 586,000.
Al Goldman at Wachovia Securities said Wall Street has been able to shake off most of the bleak economic news in recent weeks but added that 'the market remains very fickle (and) confidence very thin'. -- AFP
