Stocks Ended Flat in Short Session

U.S. stocks ended a short session flat on Wednesday despite strength in biotechs and bullish labor market data. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 6.04 points, or 0.03%, to 18,030.21.The S&P 500 lost 0.29 points, or 0.01%, to 2,081.88. The Nasdaq Composite added 8.05 points, or 0.17%, to 4,773.47.

The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment-insurance benefits fell by 9,000 to 280,000 in the week that ended Dec. 20, , the U.S. Labor Department reported. That is only modestly above the 14-year low of 266,000 hit in October.

Sales of new single-family homes dropped 1.6 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 438,000 units, according to a report today from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau

Walmart (WMT), which employs more than 1.3 million people in the U.S., will raise the base salaries at 1,434 stores, or about one-third of its U.S. locations, according to Reuters.