US stocks finish flat; market awaits jobs report
Wall Street stocks Thursday finished little changed, rallying somewhat from a big mid-session drop as investors looked ahead to Friday’s US jobs report for September. AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN
NEW YORK–Wall Street stocks Thursday finished little changed, rallying somewhat from a big mid-session drop as investors looked ahead to Friday’s US jobs report for September.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 3.66 points (0.02 percent) to 16,801.05.
The broad-based S&P 500, which fell as low as 1,926.03, ended essentially flat at 1,946.17, up 0.01 point. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 8.11 (0.18 percent) at 4,430.19.
US stocks spent much of the morning in the red after European markets fell sharply amid disappointment at the limited nature of the European Central Bank’s stimulus program.
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S&P Capital IQ, said investors did not want to oversell stocks before Friday, in case the jobs report is strong.
Economists on average expect the US economy added 210,000 jobs in September, after a disappointing 142,00 in August.
Dow member JPMorgan Chase fell 0.9 percent after The New York Times reported that the giant bank suffered a second hacking breach in three months. JPMorgan later said it was unaware of any new attack.
Tesla Motors raced 4.7 percent higher after founder Elon Musk hinted the automaker would unveil a new model next week. Musk posted to Twitter a photo of a partially open garage door with the letter “D” and the silhouette of an automobile.
“About time to unveil the D and something else,” Musk said in his tweet, without elaborating.
Netflix gained 2.6 percent on news that it signed comic actor Adam Sandler to produce and star in four films.
Spice maker McCormick rose 2.9 percent as third-quarter earnings rose 18 percent following a 15 percent sales increase in China. The company raised its full-year profit forecast.
Digital television provider DirecTV advanced 0.9 percent after announcing a deal with the National Football League to expand and extend its broadcasts of US football. Terms were not disclosed.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.44 percent from 2.40 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.15 percent from 3.11 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
