Market Update: Dow Ends Down, Nasdaq Up in Slim Friday Trading
Some blue-chip investors threw in the towel as the week on Wall Street came to a close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had marked some impressive gains early in the week, posted some modest losses.
The
Nasdaq Composite Index, for its part, managed to stay afloat, thanks to gains from components
Qualcomm
(QCOM) - Get Report
and
Rambus
(RMBS) - Get Report
.
In addition to a pullback from the Dow's recent rally and hesitancy before Election Day, this morning's
employment report
-- not as friendly as was expected -- kept the blue-chip index down.
Released this morning by the
Labor Department
, the jobs data showed that unemployment remained at its 30-year low rate of 3.9%, but that average hourly earnings rose. That wage number is particularly important, since higher wages in a tight labor market have the potential to lead to higher inflation. (
TheStreet.com
covered this morning¿s employment report in a separate
story .)
Dow components
J.P. Morgan
(JPM) - Get Report
, ended behind 2.1%,
United Technologies
, down 2.4%, and
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
, off 1.8%, contributed the biggest losses to the measure.
Shares of
Sprint PCS
(PCS)
, the third most-active stock on the
New York Stock Exchange
, tumbled 22.1% after
Sprint
(FON)
warned that profits through 2001 would be lower than expected. Fellow telecom stocks
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
and
WorldCom
(WCOM)
were both up on the day. AT&T gained 4.1%, while WorldCom added 2.5%.
On the back of its earnings report last night,
Qualcomm
(QCOM) - Get Report
-- one of the Nasdaq's most-active stocks -- lifted 12.2%. The wireless technology provider announced
earnings that beat analysts' estimates by a penny. Though Qualcomm's top-line revenue growth was weaker than expected for the quarter, it said it was comfortable with fourth-quarter estimates.
Shares of the ever-volatile
Rambus
(RMBS) - Get Report
burst 28.3% after the semiconductor company announced that had signed a patent license agreement with
Samsung Electronics
. Earlier this week, the stock had dropped 25% after a report came out that
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
was cutting back on its use of Rambus technology.
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Sector Watch
Transport stocks -- particularly in the airline industry -- had a bumpy ride this afternoon. The
American Stock Exchange Airline Index
fell 1%, the same percentage that the
Dow Jones Transportation Average
was off.
United Parcel Service
(UPS) - Get Report
fell 1.3% after saying last night that it would acquire at least 13 pre-owned MD-11 planes from U.S. aircraft manufacturer
Boeing
(BA) - Get Report
.
The
Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index
, propped up by Rambus' gains; was lifted 1.1%.
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Bonds/Economy
Bonds slipped following mixed signals from the employment data showing that average hourly earnings were rising faster than expected.
Following this morning's hotter-than-expected wage growth number, the benchmark 10-year
Treasury note had been face down in a puddle, but lately was up 1/32 to 99 13/32, pushing the yield to 5.833%.
The 30-year
Treasury bond was lately flat at 105 14/32, and yielding 5.860%.
The
employment report
(
definition |
chart |
) for October presented a mixed picture. Nonfarm payrolls grew 137,000, below expectations of a rise of 184,000 and down from September's 195,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9%. Average hourly earnings however, rose 0.4% ahead of a forecast 0.3% rise and well above the September increase of 0.2%.
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