US stocks end flat after jumpy day of trade

NEW YORK—S stocks ended flat Thursday after a seesaw day of trade, uninspired by modestly promising US jobs and trade data.

At the closing bell the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 10.45 points (0.08 percent) at 13,165.19.

The broader S&P 500 index added 0.58 (0.04 percent) to 1,402.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq put on a relatively respectable gain of 7.39 points (0.25 percent) to 3,018.64.

Trading drifted despite fresh economic data with a positive bent.

US initial claims for unemployment insurance, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, fell by 6,000 to 361,000 in the week to August 4.

Meanwhile, the trade deficit for June fell for the third straight month as exports continued to climb while imports decreased.

Cisco Systems led gainers on the Dow board of blue chips, adding 3.2 percent after Piper Jaffray changed its rating to “overweight” from “neutral” on the shares ahead of the release of the firm’s quarterly earnings report next week.

American Express topped the Dow losers, off 2.5 percent.

News Corp shares fell 0.9 percent after the company turned in a quarterly loss, taking a $2.85 billion charge on its weakening publishing businesses.

Sprint Nextel picked up 4.1 percent.

Trade was strong in engineering systems and processes company Robbins and Myers, which jumped 27.4 percent to $59.63 after National Oilwell Varco agreed to pay $2.54 billion, or $60 a share, to take over the company.

National Oilwell added 0.8 percent to $76.98.

Bond prices slipped. The 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 1.69 percent from 1.64 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year rose to 2.75 percent from 2.74 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.