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Service activity down; jobless report is tame
By Tim Paradis
Associated Press
Published on Friday, Jul 04, 2008
NEW YORK: Wall Street capped a shortened trading week with a mixed finish Thursday after some uneven economic data: news of a contraction in the nation's services sector and a tame reading on employment. But stocks still had their third dismal week in a row, with the major indexes again posting losses as worries about rising oil prices and the fallout from the credit crisis dogged the market.
Investors hoping for some guidance from two key economic reports got very little. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of service sector activity fell to 48.2 from 51.7 in May; the reading touched off more misgivings about the well-being of the economy.
The look at the service sector followed a largely as-expected report from the Labor Department, which said the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent last month. The government also reported that 62,000 jobs were
lost in June, but that number was close to economists' forecasts.
The jobs report did appear to assuage some worries that the snapshot of the labor market would be more grim.
Christopher Molumphy, chief investment officer at the Franklin Templeton fixed income group, said the employment figures don't point to a labor market in distress. ''We are not seeing data that would be consistent with recessionary conditions,'' he said.
Molumphy also said the session's somewhat skewed trading was typical of a shortened session ahead of a holiday. Trading ended three hours early at 1 p.m. and the market was closing Friday for the Fourth of July.
''We try not to overanalyze some of the moves because I think you can easily do that,'' he said.
The Dow rose 73.03, or 0.65 percent, to 11,288.54.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.38, or 0.11 percent, to 1,262.90, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.08, or 0.27 percent, to 2,245.38.
Oil settled up $1.72 at a record $145.29 per barrel.
NEW YORK: Wall Street capped a shortened trading week with a mixed finish Thursday after some uneven economic data: news of a contraction in the nation's services sector and a tame reading on employment. But stocks still had their third dismal week in a row, with the major indexes again posting losses as worries about rising oil prices and the fallout from the credit crisis dogged the market.
Get the full article here.
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