NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks failed to tough it out Thursday, but a strong mid-quarter update from Intel may give equities a much-needed boost on Friday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index (up 5.34 to 2,143.57, Charts) advanced 0.25 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average (down 5.10 to 10,585.12, Charts) ended little changed, but the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index (down 1.04 to 1,190.33, Charts) lost nearly 0.1 percent.
Intel, the world's No. 1 chip maker, announced late Thursday its fourth-quarter sales would beat its previous guidance. Investors saw this as a sign that this holiday season could be very merry in terms of computer and consumer electronics sales.
"Overall, the Intel mid-quarter update was quite bullish," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services. "I would suspect unless something major happens overnight you are looking at a higher opening based on the Intel news." Stock futures also pointed to a higher opening Friday.
Mendelsohn added that investors were pulling money out of energy stocks -- a move that may ultimately benefit techs -- as prices slumped for a second straight day.
"A lot of the money coming out of oil needs somewhere to go," he noted. "That money needs to find a home before the end of the year, and it is going to follow the momentum."
"It looks like Intel can trigger some of that momentum into techs and into the Nasdaq. So you are setting up for a nice rotation."
Rapidly receding oil prices ignited a strong rally Wednesday, but failed to illicit much excitement Thursday among blue chips and the broader market.
Light crude for January delivery sank $2.24 to $43.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after sliding below $43 earlier. In London, Brent oil futures lost $2.16 to $40.15 a barrel.
A sharp uptick in weekly jobless claims and softer-than-expected retail sales reports may have countered any goodwill stirred up by cheaper oil.
New claims for jobless benefits jumped to 349,000 last week, topping Wall Street's forecasts, but the number of long-term claims sank to their lowest levels since April 2001.
Still, the bump in new claims may have led some investors to expect a sluggish jobs report Friday. Economists forecast that the economy added 200,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate eased to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent, according to a survey by Briefing.com.
But a number of market watchers remain optimistic that October's strong report wasn't an anomaly.
"There is not a hand-in-glove relationship necessarily with the jobless claims and the payrolls number," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies and Co. "We're still pretty upbeat."
Elsewhere, the Commerce Department said factory orders rose 0.5 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted $371.51 billion.
Retail worries
No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart announced that November same-store sales, a key indicator of a retailer's vitality, rose just 0.7 percent, matching its recently lowered estimate. Analysts were initially expecting a 2 to 4 percent gain for November. Wal-Mart projected a 1 to 3 percent increase for December.
Wal-Mart (up $0.18 to $53.00, Research) weighed on blue chips earlier this week but exerted little pressure on the Dow Thursday as the shares barely budged.
Gap (down $0.85 to $21.63, Research) tumbled 3.8 percent after the clothing retailer alerted Wall Street that its November same-store sales slid 3.4 percent. Limited Brands (down $0.66 to $23.94, Research) fell 2.7 percent after posting a 5 percent drop in same-store sales for November.
And specialty retailer Ann Taylor (down $1.78 to $20.51, Research) cut its fourth-quarter and full-year forecasts on the back of an 8.3 percent decline in November same-store sales. Its shares slumped nearly 8 percent.
The S&P retail composite index (up $1.95 to $457.03, Research), however, was little changed as a handful of retailers, including Wal-Mart rival Target, posted solid numbers for November.
Target (up $0.47 to $52.40, Research) reported that its November sales rose 3.2 percent, in line with its own forecasts. Its stock picked up nearly 1 percent in afternoon trading.
In other corporate news, receding oil prices boosted airline stocks. Delta Air Lines (up $0.58 to $7.88, Research) flew nearly 8 percent higher, Continental Airlines (up $0.42 to $12.53, Research) gained 3.5 percent, and American Airlines' parent company, AMR (up $0.82 to $10.63, Research), advanced 8 percent.
Oil stocks went into shock, with Dow component Exxon Mobil (down $0.98 to $50.17, Research) sliding nearly 2 percent. ChevronTexaco (down $1.00 to $52.48, Research) also eased nearly 2 percent, BP (down $1.72 to $59.20, Research) lost 2.8 percent, Royal Dutch Petroleum (down $0.60 to $56.66, Research) ebbed 1 percent, and Shell (down $0.41 to $50.27, Research) tipped nearly 1 percent lower.
Market breadth was mixed in lively trading. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers topped winners by about 5 to 3 on volume of 1.77 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers narrowly beat decliners on a near even pace as 2.39 billion shares changed hands.
Treasury bonds fell, lifting the yield on the 10-year bond to 4.41 percent from 4.36 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite direction.
The dollar pushed away from its record low versus the euro, set in overnight trading, and a five-year low against the yen.
And in the commodities market, gold lost $3.60 to $452.30 an ounce.
Asian-Pacific stocks rallied Thursday, while the major European indexes finished near a 2-1/2 year high. (Click here for a look at world markets).
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