Bank, Technology Stocks Lure In Bargain Hunters

STEPHEN BERNARD

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors put aside jitters about the economy to do a little bargain hunting.

Stocks rose Thursday after three mostly down days as traders bought beaten-down financial and technology stocks. The buying was subdued after a worse-than-expected weekly unemployment report added to concerns that the economic recovery might not come as quickly as hoped.

The market is down sharply this week as investors worry that the optimism that fed a massive spring rally might have been premature. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is still 32 percent above the 12-year low it hit in early March.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended Thursday up 46 points, but lagged gains by the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq composite index. Financial stocks rose after falling earlier in the week and lifted the KBW Bank Index 3.7 percent.

Technology shares gained after software maker CA Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose as cost-cutting compensated for a drop in revenue.

The advance came as the market grappled with another reminder of the strained job market. The Labor Department's weekly data showed more workers filing for unemployment benefits. New claims jumped to 637,000, above what economists had forecast.