NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The Nasdaq rallied and the broader U.S. stock market was mixed Wednesday, hindered by continued concerns about a potential terrorist attack on U.S. soil, some disappointing economic results and high crude oil prices.
The Nasdaq composite (up 11.50 to 1976.15, Charts) gained 0.6 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average (down 7.73 to 10109.89, Charts) lost a few points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 1.89 to 1114.94, Charts) added a few points.
Thursday brings the weekly jobless claims report and the first reading on gross domestic product growth in the first quarter, both before the open.
Weekly claims for unemployment are expected to have fallen to 335,000 last week from 345,000 the previous week, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
GDP is expected to have grown at a 4.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter, up from a 4.2 percent annual rate of growth in the fourth quarter of 2003.
Volume Thursday and Friday is likely to be on the light side, traders said, due to Monday's Memorial Day holiday.
"We're not seeing much movement today (Wednesday) but I think we hit a bottom last week and we've set the stage to move higher in the short term," said Robert Philips, president and chief investment officer at Walnut Asset Management.
"The six weeks of gains that preceded that bottom has more than discounted the expected rise in interest rates, and I think the oil concerns have gotten overdone," Philips added. "The situation in Iraq is a different story, though, as is a potential attack."
Stocks were shaky and directionless in the morning following news released before the start of trading that intelligence sources are warning a major terrorist attack is now expected in the United States as early as this summer. However, those concerns seemed to abate by the afternoon, with markets taking in stride a news conference in which Attorney General John Ashcroft provided some more specifics on the potential attacks.
Tech gains dominated for the second session in a row. Stocks rallied broadly Tuesday in a combination of a dip in oil prices and a bounce after several weeks of declines.
NYMEX light sweet crude oil futures gained 8 cents to settle at $40.70 a barrel, near Monday's all-time closing high of $41.72 a barrel.
On the economic front, April orders for durable goods posted their largest drop in 20 months, slipping 2.9 percent to $191.3 billion, after coming in with a revised gain of 5.7 percent in March. Economists had expected a drop of 0.8 percent, according to Briefing.com.
New home sales posted their biggest monthly drop in 10 years, tumbling from the revised record high 1.3 million annual rate in March to 1.1 million rate in April. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast that sales would fall to an annual rate of 1.2 million.
What moved?
TiVo (TIVO: up $0.43 to $7.99, Research, Estimates) bounced 6.75 percent and topped the Nasdaq's most-actives list a day after the company said it expects total subscriber additions to triple in the second-quarter from year-earlier levels and that it stands by its 2005 fiscal year outlook despite posting a wider-than-anticipated first-quarter loss.
Lucent Technologies (LU: up $0.22 to $3.48, Research, Estimates) popped 6.75 percent after Cingular confirmed that it selected the telecom gear maker to build a next-generation wireless network in the Atlanta market. The network is being built for test purposes but could lead to a bigger contract.
Computer data storage maker EMC (EMC: up $0.50 to $11.20, Research, Estimates) rose almost 4 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade after introducing a new line of products geared toward mid-sized businesses.
Boeing (BA: up $0.06 to $44.76, Research, Estimates) stabilized following some morning weakness after Congressional and defense sources said late Tuesday Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has put on hold a $23.5 billion Air Force plan to lease and buy 100 Boeing aerial refueling tankers.
Shares of medical device maker Guidant (GDT: down $6.78 to $53.71, Research, Estimates) fell more than 11 percent after the company said that it has discovered complications with its drug-coated stent that could delay its regulatory filing and launching.
Guidant's bad news was rival Boston Scientific (BSX: up $4.46 to $44.82, Research, Estimates)'s good news. Shares rose more than 11 percent.
Market breath was positive. On the NYSE, roughly five stocks rose for every three that fell as 1.36 billion shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, where 1.59 billion shares traded, advancers beat decliners by three to two.
European markets closed higher, and Japan and other Asian markets rallied strongly Wednesday.
Safe haven investments benefited from the market's unease. Treasury bond prices, gained with the benchmark 10-year note rising 1/2 of a point to yield 4.66 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. COMEX gold fell 10 cents to settle at $388.30 an ounce.
The dollar was mostly unchanged versus the euro and slightly higher versus the yen.
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