Posted on: Friday, June 3, 2005
Stock prices meander up ahead of report on jobs
By Michael J. Martinez
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Wall Street meandered to a modest gain yesterday as investors, faced with a muddled view of the economy, held off on any large bets before the government's upcoming jobs report. Merger activity gave technology stocks a slightly stronger lift.
Yet the Labor Department reported a larger-than-expected number of first-time jobless claims filed last week, and the department's productivity data pointed to the possibility of higher wage costs, which could spur inflation. With the Labor Department's job creation report due today, trading volume was light as investors generally stayed on the sidelines.
"Are we in that perfect 'Goldilocks' kind of economy, or are the numbers here pointing to new problems?" said Jay Suskind, head trader at Ryan Beck & Co. "So in front of tomorrow's employment numbers, the market lays an egg and we wait."
Oil prices dropped because of a surprising increase in the nation's crude oil and gasoline stockpiles. A barrel of light crude settled at $53.63, down 97 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Despite the economic concerns and the unusual activity in the bond market, analysts were encouraged that stocks did not sell off substantially after the gains of the past month.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.95 billion shares, compared with 1.86 billion traded on Wednesday.
Investors were cheered as factory orders rose in April at the fastest rate in five months, and were further encouraged by a 2.9 percent rise in productivity in the first quarter, just shy of the 3.0 percent economists expected. In addition, retail sales in May were fairly strong despite an unusually chilly spring.
