|
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Stocks bounced Thursday morning, recovering modestly after a steep two-session selloff, amid signs that the economy was holding up prior to Hurricane Katrina.
The Dow Jones industrial average (up 28.99 to 10,573.89, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 4.24 to 1,231.40, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 5.40 to 2,154.73, Charts) all gained in the early going.
Stocks have slipped for the last two days as oil prices jumped back up to more than $65 a barrel. The market has also been troubled by confusion about the economy post-Katrina and speculation about what the Fed might say at its policy-setting meeting next Tuesday.
A number of economic reports were released Thursday morning, but only one addressed the economy following the hurricane: weekly jobless claims. Claims jumped to a much higher-than-expected 398,000, reflecting the large number of people out of work following the disaster.
Other reports released in the morning suggested that the economy held up well in late summer, and that inflation was contained.
Among the pre-Katrina reports released: the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5 percent in August, in line with forecasts and just as it did in July.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called "core" CPI increased 0.1 percent in August, the same as it did in July. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would be up 0.3 percent.
The NY Empire State Index, a regional read on manufacturing, fell to 17.0 versus forecasts of a drop to 15.5.
In corporate news, Delta Air Lines (up $0.07 to $0.78, Research) and Northwest Airlines (down $0.91 to $0.96, Research) both said late Wednesday that they had filed for bankruptcy, confirming speculation that they would do so. (For more on this story, click here.)
U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose 25 cents to $65.34 a barrel in electronic trading.
Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.18 percent from 4.16 percent late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The dollar rose versus the euro and was little changed versus the yen.
COMEX gold rose $4 to stand at $457.70 an ounce.
In global trade, major Asian markets ended mostly higher, and European shares rose at midday.
|
