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Dow's inflation jitters ease
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May 7, 1999: 10:09 a.m. ET
Stocks up after April report shows expected job gain, unemployment up
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A friendly April jobs report soothed Wall Street's inflation fears Friday and sent U.S. stock markets higher in early trading.
Shortly before 10 a.m. the Dow Jones industrial average was 14.89 points higher at 10,961.71. Market breadth on the New York Stock Exchange was positive, with gainers ahead of losers by 1,147 to 1,016 as trading volume reached 86 million shares.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 19.40 to 2,491.68 and the S&P 500 index gained 3.57 to 1,335.62.
Wall Street got its boost from the April non-farm payrolls report, released an hour before the market opened. The U.S. economy generated 234,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate inched up to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent in March -- both numbers suggesting the tight labor market may have loosened up a bit and is not yet generating inflationary pressures.
Confirming the last view, hourly wages rose by only 3 cents in the month.
The bond market had an initial positive reaction to the jobs report, but investors took the uptick as an opportunity to lighten up positions ahead of the weekend. As a result, the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond traded 4/32 of a point higher in price, for a yield of 5.77 percent.
After a stronger opening against the euro, the dollar once again retreated, even though it remained nearly unchanged against the Japanese yen.
Return of the techs
In the stock market, technology stocks rebounded, partially supported by the jobs data and partially boosted by bargain hunters after days of weakness in the sector.
The Dow's tech components joined the trend, with IBM (IBM) rising 3-5/8 to 212-7/8 and Hewlett Packard (HWP) climbing 1 to 78-5/16.
On the Nasdaq, Cisco Systems (CSCO) advanced 1-9/16 to 108-1/2, Intel (INTC) rose 7/16 to 60-1/8, Dell (DELL) was up 5/8 to 40-1/16 and Microsoft (MSFT), fresh off its deal with AT&T (T), gained 15/16 to 78-7/8.
Elsewhere in the market, investors got excited about a potential deal in the shipbuilding industry after Litton Industries (LIT) made two unsolicited bids to acquire Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) and Avondale Industries (AVDL) for a total of $2.4 billion.
The news sent Avondale's stock surging 4-3/8, or nearly 14 percent, to 36-1/8, while trading in Newport News was delayed. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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