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Wall St: Friday mid-session

13 April 2012

SURPRISINGLY low job growth and a stagnant unemployment rate sent stocks on a roller-coaster rise as investors worried that the disappointing job situation could stall the economic recovery.

According to the Labour Department, the economy added a scant 21,000 jobs for February, far short of the 125,000 economists had expected. In addition, the January figure was revised from 112,000 to 97,000, and the unemployment rate remained stalled at 5.6% in February.

For investors, who had waited all week in hopes that these figures would show signs of life in the economy, the reaction was immediate. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 60 points in the first minutes of trading, but recovered quickly as bargain-hunters entered the market.

At midday, the Dow was 0.96, or 0.01% higher at 10,588.96, having fluctuated more than 120 points in the first 2 1/2 hours of trading. The Nasdaq composite index was down 5.37, or 0.3% at 2,049.74.

While the jobs picture remains very bleak, a silver lining remains - the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates while job growth falters.

Dow component Intel cut its first-quarter sales forecast late on Thursday, blaming a seasonal sales slump and its transition to new products. The stock dropped 64 cents to $29.01.

Sun Microsystems lost 22 cents to $4.94 after Standard & Poor's cut the company's bond rating to junk status.

Fast food giant McDonald's, which reported a sales jump of 22.6 percent in February, was up 63 cents at $29.47.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Boston Scientific's new drug-eluting coronary stent system. Its shares climbed 7 cents to $44.19.

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Computer Components
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Nasdaq
Unemployment