NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Dow rose on Thursday, a day after
the blue-chip average entered a bear market, on relief payrolls
data was not as weak as some had feared and with another record
oil price boosting energy shares.
The broader S&P 500 index was little changed in a
pre-holiday shortened trading session and the Nasdaq composite
index fell after graphics chip maker Nvidia (NVDA.O) slashed
its outlook, citing global market weakness. That raised
concerns about the outlook for the computer industry.
Oil jumped above $145 a barrel before the Independence Day
holiday on Friday when U.S. markets will be closed. Exxon Mobil
Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) gave the biggest boosts
to the Dow and the S&P 500.
The Labor Department said employers cut 62,000 workers from
their payrolls in June for the sixth straight monthly decline,
roughly in line with economists' expectations.
"The (payrolls) numbers weren't as bad as they could have
been," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis
Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. "Some people had feared 100,000
in job losses or more."
Shares of big manufacturers like 3M (MMM.N) rose after the
jobs report, aiding the Dow's advance.
Aetna Inc (AET.N) and Health Net Inc (HNT.N) shares kept
gains in check on the S&P 500 after Goldman Sachs recommended
clients sell the two health-insurers' stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 73.03 points,
or 0.65 percent, to 11,288.54, while the Standard & Poor's 500
Index (.SPX) eked out a gain of 1.38 points, or 0.11 percent,
to 1,262.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) fell 6.08
points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,245.38.
For the shortened week, the Dow ended down 0.5 percent, the
S&P 500 finished 1.2 percent lower and the Nasdaq shed 3
percent. This was the fifth straight weekly decline for the S&P
500 and the Nasdaq, and the Dow's third straight week of
losses.
Nvidia shares sank 30.7 percent to $12.49 and were the
biggest drag on a semiconductor index (.SOXX), which shed 1
percent.
Exxon Mobil shares rose 1 percent, to $88.27 and Chevron
rose 1.2 percent, to $98.63. U.S. oil futures gained 74 cents
to $144.32 a barrel, having earlier hit an all-time high of
$145.85.
3M (MMM.N) rose 1.4 percent to $69.46, and United
Technologies (UTX.N) gained 2.3 percent to $61.05.
The Morgan Stanley Health-care Payor index (.HMO) fell 3.1
percent. Aetna shares dropped 6.7 percent to $37.14 and Health
Net Inc (HNT.N) tumbled 12 percent to $22.55.
The S&P 500 briefly dipped into bear territory after the
Institute for Supply Management reported that the services
sector shrank in June, surprising Wall Street economists who
had expected an expansion. The report also showed inflation
pressures soared to a record high for the survey's 11-year
history.
But the S&P 500 closed above its lows for the session,
officially avoiding the start of a bear market, which is a
decline of at least 20 percent from an index's recent peak.
Trading was light on the New York Stock Exchange, with
about 931 million shares changing hands in the shortened
session, below last year's estimated daily average of roughly
1.9 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 1.4 billion shares traded,
also below last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by 2 to 1 on
the NYSE by 8 to 5 on the Nasdaq.
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)
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