Yellen says U.S. cannot avoid recession

The United States can't avoid a recession because of the fact that there's no wage-price spiral and supply chain bottlenecks are starting to come to an end, according to a report by the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday.

Yellen told reporters after her speech at an event in Fort Worth, Texas, that rent prices had peaked and are starting to come down.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary said that recent movements in the dollar's value reflected fundamentals. The report said that Yellen wouldn't say whether the dollar had peaked against other currencies.

The major Wall Street indices closed in the green on Thursday after investors and traders questioned the possibility of a continued aggression by the Federal Reserve after the release of the jobless claims data. The number of Americans submitting new unemployment benefits went up last week, marking the eighth week of flat or higher unemployment claims, the longest trend since the financial crisis in 2009.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY closed 0.78% higher on Thursday, while the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF BND ended 0.28% lower.

Labor Market: The U.S. Treasury Secretary said the heat was starting to come off the labor market. Businesses were reducing their expectations for growth and reducing their hiring plans and resignations or quits had also fallen, but no significant lay-offs had emerged.