Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages are at their best levels of the day with the S&P 500 (+0.5%) just shy of the 6,000 mark.

The news of a positive phone call between leaders of China and the U.S. has helped the market overcome a shaky start that followed the release of some disappointing economic data. Most notably, the productivity reading for Q1 was revised down to -1.5% from -0.7% in the previous estimate while unit labor cost growth was revised up to 6.6% from 5.7%, making for a combination that will invite concerns about potential stagflation in the economy.

Separately, initial jobless claims increased to 247,000 from 239,000, representing the weekly total since October. The market will receive more employment-related data before the end of the week with the Employment Situation report for May (Briefing.com consensus 130,000) set to be released tomorrow at 8:30 ET.