MARKET REPORT : Wall Street ends day timidly upbeat
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/225212/
NEW YORK — Wall Street closed a quiet session with a moderate advance Thursday with energy and other commodities companies leading the market as oil prices extended their record-breaking run.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 52. 43, or 0. 41 percent, to 12, 866. 78.
The price of crude oil swept past $ 124 a barrel in late New York Mercantile Exchange trading; gasoline rose to a new record of its own at the pump by climbing to a national average of nearly $ 3. 65 a gallon.
Although the rising price of oil ignited concerns about inflation Wednesday that knocked the Dow down more than 200 points, stocks managed to hold on to their gains even as oil rose Thursday. Some of the big gainers were the companies that would benefit the most from higher commodities prices — the oil companies and metal producers like Alcoa Inc. — and they helped lift the major indexes.
Stocks also rose after retailers issued April sales results that, while not strong overall, looked less gloomy than expected.
Financial stocks showed the worst performances of the day. Philip S. Dow, managing director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis, said investors likely remain jittery over the sector as concern persists about whether the companies have problems on their books beyond subprime mortgages.
Broader stock indicators turned higher after fluctuating at times during the session. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5. 11, or 0. 37 percent, to 1, 397. 68, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 12. 75, or 0. 52 percent, to 2, 451. 24.
The Russell 2000 index rose 3. 34, or 0. 47 percent, to 719. 55.
Advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners about 3-2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume amounted to a light 3. 71 billion shares, compared with 3. 94 billion shares traded Wednesday.
Bond prices rose as some investors sought the safety of government debt despite the gains in stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3. 79 percent from 3. 85 percent late Wednesday.
Gold prices rose; the dollar declined against most other major global currencies.
In overseas trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei index fell 1. 13 percent, Britain’s FTSE index rose 0. 16 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0. 06 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0. 39 percent.