New York:  Shrugging off gloomy economic and employment data, the Wall Street was trading in the green amid investors gearing up to celebrate Christmas.

All the three major indices Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and SP 500 were trading marginally higher in the early hours.

Dow rose 0.46 per cent to 8,458.04 points while Nasdaq Composite inched up to 1,523.20 points. SP 500 went up to 867.21 points.

Meanwhile, the US saw a raft of sour economic and employment data from various state departments, with the jobless claims soaring to a 26-year high of 5,86,000 for the week ended December 20.

Apart from higher unemployment claims, official data also showed that personal spending in the world's largest economy declined by 0.6 per cent in November whereas the orders for durable goods fell one per cent last month.

"In the week ended December 20,the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 5,86,000,an increase of 30,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 5,56,000.

According to the Commerce Department, consumer spending dropped by 0.6 per cent in November. The fall was primarily due to massive job losses.

Another report from the Commerce Department revealed that orders for durable goods decreased one per cent last month.

Source : PTI