Wall Street ends modestly lower while US-Iran tensions boost crude prices

Making sense of the forces driving global markets

By Stephen Culp, Reuters Journalist

Jamie is enjoying some well-deserved time-off, but the Reuters markets team will still keep you up to date on what moved markets today.

Wall Street stocks followed the example of their European counterparts by posting modest losses on Thursday as mixed economic data and simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran kept uncertainties - and crude prices - high.

The U.S. goods trade balance hit its widest on record, while a bigger-than-expected drop in initial jobless claims provided some reassurance regarding the health of the labor market.

I will go into more detail on today's market moves below. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.

I'd love to hear from you, so please reach out to me with comments at stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com.

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* U.S. trade deficit balloons on surging imports

December's goods trade shortfall is the widest ever recorded, despite Trump's tariffs levied against the U.S. trading partners.

* Trump presses Iran to make "meaningful deal" 

Warning that "bad things" will happen if Iran fails to reach a deal over its nuclear program, Trump appeared to set a 10-day deadline before the United States takes action.

* Fed's Kashkari calls recent comments from White House economic advisor Hassett an attack on Fed independence

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Kevin Hassett's call for New York Fed officials to "be disciplined" for recent research on tariffs represented the Trump administration's latest move to undermine the central bank's independence.

* The "Board of Peace" convenes for its first meeting

Trump announced that various nations had contributed $7 billion to a Gaza reconstruction fund that aims to rebuild the enclave once Hamas disarms.

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