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Stocks fluctuate after disappointing jobs data

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-14 00:27

NEW YORK --Wall Street had a calmer start to trading Thursday, with stocks struggling to find a direction after three straight days of steep declines. Investors appeared to take in stride a government report showing a larger-than-expected jump in unemployment claims.

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, November 13, 2008. U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as rebounding oil prices lifted energy shares and Wal-Mart Stores Inc offered some reassuring news about consumer spending.

The intense volatility that has dominated trading was easing in the early going, but investors were likely just pausing while they tried to determine their next move. A streak of bad corporate and economic news has sent prices falling sharply this week, including a 410-point slide in the Dow Jones industrials on Wednesday.

The market seemed little affected Thursday by the Labor Department's report that the number of newly laid-off individuals seeking unemployment benefits has jumped to a level not seen since just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said the trade deficit declined by a bigger-than-expected amount in September, falling by 4.4 percent to $56.5 billion as imports experienced a record plunge.

The import decline was led by a huge fall in imported oil as the average price for crude dropped by a record $12.41 per barrel and the volume of shipments fell to the lowest level in five years. But demand for other types of imports also fell, with imported cars and car parts dropping to the lowest level in more than five years, an indication that foreign automakers are feeling the pinch hitting U.S. consumers.

President-elect Barack Obama has said that dealing with the worst financial crisis to hit this country in seven decades will be his No. 1 priority when he takes office, and his Democratic allies in Congress were laying the groundwork for changes with hearings scheduled Thursday.

The House Oversight Committee will examine the role hedge funds may have played in recent market turbulence. Among those scheduled to testify was billionaire investor George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management.

Meanwhile, the Senate Banking Committee will hear from executives of a number of financial institutions including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo on the issue of how the government's $700 billion rescue effort is operating, and particularly whether the government should be requiring more commitments on the use of the money to address rising mortgage foreclosure problems.

And there were more signs of a severe pullback in consumer spending that pummeled stocks earlier in the week. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. trimmed expectations for full-year earnings. And Intel Corp. cut more than $1 billion from its sales forecast, providing more evidence that few industries are safe from a clampdown on spending by businesses as well as consumers.

After the week's litany of bad news, which included disappointing reports from Macy's Inc. and Starbucks Corp., investors were likely accepting the fact that the economy is in for a protracted downturn. And some investors were clearly wading cautiously back in to the market, lured by bargains.

In midmorning trading, the Dow added 108.24, or 1.31 percent, to 8,390.90 after shuttling between gains and losses during the first hour.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13.68, or 1.61 percent, to 865.98, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 8.66, or 0.58 percent, to 1,507.87.

. The stock market has lost about $1 trillion over the past three days, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects the value of nearly all U.S. stocks.

Government bond prices were slightly lower. The three-month Treasury bill's yield rose to 0.14 percent from 0.13 percent late Wednesday, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.76 percent from 3.67 percent late Wednesday. Higher yields indicate lower demand.

In corporate news, struggling casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. will lay off as many as 11,000 workers after a cash crunch forced the company to halt construction on multibillion dollar projects.

A barrel of light, sweet crude was rose 47 cents to $56.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices fell.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei closed down 5.25 percent and Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 5.15 percent. In European trading, London's FTSE 100 was down 1.16 percent, Germany's DAX rose 0.92 percent, and France's CAC-40 added 0.96 percent.