Showing some stability, stocks mostly higher
The major indexes ended the first four sessions of the second quarter with solid gains.
NEW YORK - Wall Street showed some reassuring signs of stability yesterday, closing mostly higher despite the biggest monthly decline in jobs in five years. The major indexes ended the first four sessions of the second quarter with a healthy advance.
While some nervous investors fled to government bonds, the report, showing the economy gave up 80,000 jobs last month, appeared simply to confirm many investors' assumptions of a widespread economic slowdown.
Although the job losses, the most since March 2003, are indeed a significant sign of economic weakness, a lackluster report was widely expected, and some investors were relieved the total was not higher.
"The economic data is negative, but I think what the market's telling us is we've priced in a lot of the bad news already," said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. "You could make the argument that we've thrown a lot of difficult news at this market, and it's reacted very well."
The market's next big test is likely to come with the release of first-quarter earnings reports in the coming weeks. Investors will be particularly keen to know what companies' outlooks are for the rest of this year - if they are disappointing, Wall Street could see a return of the punishing volatility of the last few months.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 16.61, or 0.13 percent, to 12,609.42, in part because of a decline in General Motors Corp. stock.
Broader stock indicators edged higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 1.09, or 0.08 percent, to 1,370.40, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 7.68, or 0.32 percent, to 2,370.98.
For the second quarter, which began Tuesday, the Dow is up 2.83 percent, the S&P 500 gained 3.61 percent, and the Nasdaq added 4.03 percent. For the entire week, the Dow rose 3.22 percent, the S&P 500 added 4.20 percent and the Nasdaq gained 4.86 percent.
Light, sweet crude rose $2.40 to settle at $106.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, surged to a new record above $3.30 a gallon, and appear ready to rise further as supplies tighten ahead of the summer driving season.
Investors' assessment of the economy comes after a strong week for Wall Street. Monday brought the welcome end to a downbeat first quarter. While the S&P 500 fell nearly 10 percent during the first three months of the year, stocks had managed to pull off their lows by quarter's end.
On Tuesday, the Dow surged nearly 400 points as investors snapped up shares of financial companies, which have fallen sharply in recent months on concerns about bad debt on balance sheets. The quiet sessions since, including yesterday's modest moves in the face of bad economic news, appeared to buoy some hopes that the market is carving a bottom after five months of declines in the S&P.
In corporate news, GM shares fell after a private-equity group said it terminated its agreement to invest $2.55 billion in the company's largest auto parts supplier, Delphi Corp., which has been trying to emerge from bankruptcy protection. GM fell $1.01, or 4.7 percent, to $20.58.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.16, or 0.02 percent, to 713.73.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.72 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 finished up 0.95 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.32 percent, and France's CAC-40 added 0.27 percent.