NEW YORK — Stocks climbed Thursday as investors focused on
the positive aspects of new data on jobless claims, the latest of several
releases offering hints about the outlook for employment and retail spending.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 68.78 points, or
0.7 percent, to 10,405.83. Its top gainers were Walt Disney and Alcoa.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 percent.
The S&P 500 increased 0.6 percent to 1,102.35, led by
gains of 1 percent each in its health care and consumer-discretionary sectors.
Starbucks rose 4.7 percent, while Kohl’s and Limited Brands were up more than 2
percent ahead of November retail sales data set to be released Friday morning.
Oil futures ended down 13 cents at a fresh two-month low
$70.57 a barrel after briefly crossing below the key $70 level during trading
at the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“There is some support at $68 a barrel, but nothing
really strong until $65,” said broker Tom Bentz, at BNP Paribas in New
York. He noted that Wednesday’s sharp fall came as trading volume in crude
topped 1 million contracts for the first time since February.
A Thursday report from the Labor Department showed a
bigger-than-expected weekly rise in U.S. filings for jobless benefits, though
the number of continuing claims, defined as claims lasting more than one week,
showed a decline. Read more about the latest report.
“What we’re seeing here is consistent with our
expectations that we’ll actually begin to see growth in (monthly) payrolls
early next year, which is a great positive for the market,” said portfolio
manager Bill Stone, of PNC Advisors. “You have to be careful with the
claims data, since they’re prone to blips as people come on and off the rolls.
That’s why people tend to pay more attention to the moving averages.”
The initial-claims data followed last week’s surprisingly
strong report on November nonfarm payrolls, which showed that the U.S. economy
has almost ceased shedding jobs.
However, some traders remain concerned about the cumulative
effect of millions of job losses from the recent recession. With Thursday’s
gains so far, the Dow is up just 60 points since last week’s release of
better-than-expected monthly payroll data.
“All of the little shimmers of hope that we have gotten
in the data haven’t been able to drive prices higher with any
consistency,” said Chris Johnson, chief executive of Johnson Research
Group, a trading and analysis firm in Cincinnati. “It just shows you
there’s still a lot of hesitance out there. We see a market that’s just as
willing to sell on the news as buy the news.”
In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported
that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed by 7.6 percent to $32.9 billion in October.
Imports rose by 0.4 percent, suggesting a somewhat improved demand picture
domestically. Read more about the trade report.
Despite the broad gain in stocks, trading volume was light,
with New York Stock Exchange composite turnover hitting 4.2 billion shares,
well shy of the 2009 daily average.
Investors will be paying close attention to a policy
statement from the Federal Reserve when it determines interest rates next week.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
