Tech Stocks Lead Wall Street Higher
Updated from 9:56 a.m. EDT
Stocks in New York were rising early Thursday, led by the tech sector, as traders opted for tentative buying despite mixed economic data and disappointing earnings on the corporate front.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 27 points at 12,847, and the
S&P 500
tacked on 4 points at 1390. The best performer was the
Nasdaq Composite
, which was rising 24 points to 2437.
Dow component
Exxon Mobil
(XOM) - Get Report
was an early drag on the market after its first-quarter earnings missed analysts' projections, despite surging 17% to $10.89 billion.
Revenue, though sharply higher, was also on the light side, and the company's shares were falling 3.9%.
Another disappointment came on the data side. The Labor Department said the number of people filing for unemployment benefits last week spiked by 35,000 from the prior week's revised data to 380,000. That's 20,000 more claims than economists were expecting.
The report comes a day before the government releases its always important monthly report on job growth and the unemployment rate. On Wednesday, ADP said private employers added 10,000 workers to their payrolls in March, a stronger result than economists had predicted.
Meanwhile, March personal spending was 0.4% higher than the prior month and was slightly ahead of what was expected. Personal income rose 0.3%, compared with a 0.5% climb in the prior month.
In the currency market, the dollar was recovering from the previous session's losses, surging by 1% against the euro at $1.5482. The greenback was also climbing against the pound by 0.6%. However, the yen was a bit stronger.
Simultaneously, crude oil slipped 57 cents to $112.89 a barrel, and gold shed $6.80 to $858.30 an ounce.
Among companies,
Tyco International
(TYC)
roughly doubled its adjusted first-quarter profit to $326 million, or 67 cents a share, and was well ahead of the average analyst estimate from Thomson Financial. Still, shares were falling 3.5%.
Pharmacy chain
CVS Caremark
(CVS) - Get Report
slipped 1.7% even though same-store sales rose 3.9% as first-quarter earnings climbed to 55 cents a share, in line with expectations.
Elsewhere,
Starbucks
(SBUX) - Get Report
shed 0.5% after the coffee giant said 2008 earnings should come in lower than last year's 87 cents a share. For the first quarter, the company posted a bottom line that met Wall Street targets, though sales were a bit short.
Cable provider
Comcast
(CMCSA) - Get Report
said first-quarter income sank 12.5% amid declining subscription numbers, though the company's 19-cent profit per share matched the consensus estimate.
Treasury prices were slipping. The 10-year note was down 2/32 in price to yield 3.74%, and the 30-year bond lost 5/32 in price, yielding 4.48%.
As for overseas bourses, most major markets were closed for the May Day holiday.