Stocks Mostly Higher After Jobs Data

However, trading in both the stock and bond markets remains volatile.

Author:
Thomas Lepri
Publish date:
May 7, 1999 12:15 PM EDT

Trends are lasting about two minutes each today, but, approaching midday, the market looked as if it was starting to take the

Labor Department's

non-threatening

employment report to heart.

After surging at the open and then shyly backing all the way into shallow negative territory, the

Nasdaq Composite Index

lately was up 13 to 2486.

Intel

(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation Report

was leading the index's bellwethers, up 1 3/8 to 61 1/16.

Small-cap issues were near break-even, with the

Russell 2000

and

S&P SmallCap 600

both fractionally lower. Internet stocks were looking flat, with

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

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index up fractionally at 612.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

and the

S&P 500

were up 25 to 10,972 and 6 to 1338, respectively.

The bond market was climbing back from a strange, quick early selloff this morning. The benchmark 30-year Treasury was up 6 to 92 18/32, its yield dropping to 5.78%.

Market internals weren't telling any tales.

New York Stock Exchange

decliners were leading advancers 1,416 to 1,308 on 388 million shares. On the

Nasdaq Stock Market

, 1,708 advancers were trailing 1,769 decliners on 404 million shares.

Most active on the NYSE was

America Online

(AOL)

, up 1 to 120 3/4 on 19 million shares.

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation Report

was the Nasdaq's most active issue, with 11 million shares changing hands. It was up 13/16 to 78 3/4.

Tech Focus

The

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index

was leading the major tech indices, up fractionally. The

Morgan Stanley High-Tech

was also up fractionally.

Computer hardware maker

Qlogic

(QLGC)

was burning up the Nasdaq, up 16 5/8 to 92 1/2 after the company last night posted first-quarter earnings of 45 cents a share, a nickel above the 6-analyst

First Call

consensus and well up from the previous year's 23 cents.

Network connectivity firm

Emulex

(EMLX)

was also on fire, up 10 5/8 to 59 1/16. An Emulex spokesman attributed the action to the company's roadshow for its upcoming 2.1 million-share secondary offering.

10:55 a.m.: Stocks Modestly Higher in Volatile Trading

If your broker tells you he understands what's going on in the market today, you might consider quietly moving your account someplace else.

"I'm so baffled about the whole thing," said Ned Collins, executive vice president of U.S. stocks at

Daiwa Securities America

There are simply too many cross-currents out there, and the action is far to choppy, for anyone to really know. The trading is most bizarre in the Treasury market, which has gone all over the place in reaction to an April

jobs report

that should have been unambiguously bond friendly. But the long bond's been all over the place. Up as much as 29/32, down as much as 14/32, it was lately up 9/32 to 92 22/32, dropping the yield to 5.77%.

And the stock market has been following the Treasuries around all morning. Which is to say that it's up. The stocks that performed the worst yesterday -- tech and other growth issues -- are faring the best, while things like the cyclicals, which yesterday posted gains, are acting like also-rans.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 13 to 10,960 and the S&P 500 was up 5 to 1337. The tech-buoyed

Nasdaq Composite Index

was up 10 to 2482.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index was up 1 to 613. The

Russell 2000

was up 1 to 434.

And so the market continues to defy those who expect a correction. "A lot of people are trying to wish the market down," said Collins. "But somehow it doesn't seem to want to comply with any wishes"

Justin Lahart