Stocks rise slighty on jobs data
Wall Street made a muted advance Friday but still finished the week lower after a better-than-expected employment report raised hopes about the economy’s strength despite the recent hurricanes. The major indexes each lost more than 2 percent for the week.
The market came back Friday from three straight days of losses after the Labor Department said September payrolls, while down for the first time in two years, fell by only 35,000 jobs. Fearing an economic slump in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, economists had forecast a drop of 150,000.
But while the Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 60 shortly after the opening bell, stocks gave up most of their gains throughout the day amid some skepticism about the report. Investors also awaited greater clarity about the economy’s health from upcoming third-quarter earnings and forward-looking estimates.
“Any celebration the market was going to put on was overshadowed by the fact that (the job loss) wasn’t good news,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. “I think calmer minds prevailed.”
At the close of trading, the Dow gained 5.21, or 0.05 percent, to 10,292.31. Broader stock indicators were also higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.41, or 0.37 percent, to 1,195.90, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.27, or 0.3 percent, to 2,090.35.
Bonds followed stocks upward, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note sliding to 4.37 percent from 4.39 percent Thursday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies in European trading, and gold prices crept higher.
Stocks lingered in a narrow range Friday to end a week complicated by inflation worries after Richard W. Fisher, president of Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said inflation was approaching the high end of the Federal Reserve’s comfort zone — indicating the central bank’s rate tightening will continue. For the week, the Dow fell 2.62 percent, the S&P 500 lost 2.68 percent and the Nasdaq fell 2.84 percent.
Advancing issues outpaced decliners by more than 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where preliminary consolidated volume of 2.12 billion shares lagged the 2.81 billion shares traded Thursday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 4.88, or 0.76 percent, to 644.33.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average dropped 0.99 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.19 percent, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.19 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was lower by 0.18 percent.