On Wall Street on Friday, in very uncertain trading, the Dow Jones and S&P indices slightly rose, thanks to the recovery of oil company stocks, while the Nasdaq index fell as investors feared weakening demand for technology equipment.
The Dow Jones index rose by 32 points or 0.49 percent, to 6,626 points, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.12 percent, reaching 683 points. The Nasdaq index, on the other hand, fell by 0.44 percent, to 1,293 points. Most of yesterday’s trading was spent in negative territory by the leading indices as the data that 651,000 workers lost their jobs in the U.S. in February, with the unemployment rate jumping from 7.6 to 8.1 percent, the highest level since December 1983, put investors on alert.
The number of lost jobs was greater than expected, but not devastating, as some investors feared, analysts say. Investors were also shaken by JPMorgan analysts lowering their earnings estimate for Apple and the target price for the stock of that technology company, citing weaker iPhone sales than expected. Apple’s stock price fell by 4 percent, which also triggered the sale of other technology stocks, leading to a drop in the Nasdaq index. Among the biggest losers yesterday was General Motors stock.
The day after auditors questioned the survival of the company, which was once the world’s largest car manufacturer, GM’s stock price fell by 22 percent. On the other hand, the energy sector recovered, thanks to a 4.4 percent rise in oil prices, to $45.5 per barrel. Thus, Chevron’s stock price rose by more than 3 percent, and Exxon Mobil’s by 2.9 percent. European exchanges also traded cautiously on Friday. The London FTSE index rose by only 1 point, to 3,530 points, while the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange fell by 0.79 percent, to 3,666 points. (Hina)
