LIVE MARKETS-Wall Street little changed ahead of cold supermoon

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WALL STREET LITTLE CHANGED AHEAD OF COLD SUPERMOON

The three major U.S. equity indexes ended little changed on Thursday after dancing around close to the flat line for much of the day with a mixed bag of economic data failing to inspire investors, who are anxiously awaiting the Federal Reserve's meeting next week.

Under the hood, the 11 S&P 500 .SPX industry sectors were elbowing each other for the rear and front of the pack positions during the day.

But at the close, industrials .SPLRCI was the biggest percentage gainer, adding 0.5% while healthcare .SPXHC and consumer staples .SPLRCS tied as the biggest percentage losers, both down 0.73%.

The next weakest sectors also tied with consumer discretionary .SPLRCD and materials .SPLRCM both losing 0.48%.

Could the coincidence be related to this evening's pending cold supermoon? The last full moon of the year is also occurring in the closing phase of a "Major Lunar Standstill," which is a recurring 18.6-year event that sees the moon's orbit tilted at its most extreme angle relative to Earth's orbit, according toSpace.com.

Healthcare was the biggest index point drag on the day. Meanwhile, technology .SPLRCT was the biggest boost, which is of course a lot less unusual than a supermoon.

Also notable were record closing highs to round off Thursday's trading for the NYSE Composite .NYA, the small-cap Russell 2000 index .RUT and the S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK.

Here is your closing snapshot:

(Sinéad Carew, Terence Gabriel)

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