Market’s Rally May Not Be Over

The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index edged higher on Thursday afternoon, as a report showing signs of improvement in the labor market may have provided enough of a catalyst to add to the recent upward momentum.

After spending the morning in negative territory, the S..P 500 was 0.1 percent higher in afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.2 percent, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4 percent higher.

Wall Street indexes echoed the trend in global markets, where investors pulled some profits from soaring European and Japanese shares on Thursday, although a run of relatively upbeat economic data and continued support from central banks kept equities near multiyear highs

Jobless claims in the United States unexpectedly fell last week, dropping by 1,000 to 323,000, their lowest in more than five years. Analysts had expected claims to jump to 335,000.

But the stock market’s reaction was muted for much of Thursday. Through Wednesday, the recent rally on Wall Street had taken the S.P. 500 to record closing highs for five straight sessions.

The S.P. 500 has climbed 14.5 percent so far this year, while the Dow has advanced 15.3 percent and the Nasdaq has gained 13 percent.

Shares of Barnes Noble soared 17.9 percent in afternoon trading after the web publication TechCrunch reported that Microsoft was considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media’s digital assets for $1 billion.

News Corporation reported earnings late Wednesday that beat expectations while revenue rose 14 percent. Rupert Murdoch’s media company also said it was on track to split off its slow-growing publishing business by the end of June. Shares rose 5.3 percent.

Groupon posted revenue growth of 7.5 percent in the first quarter, more than analysts had expected. Shares jumped 9.3 percent, though they are down more than 8 percent this month.

Oil prices dipped on a combination of weakening demand and rising supplies. The euro was stronger against the dollar.

Europe’s broad FTSE Eurofirst 300 index slipped from a near five-year high to be flat by the end of trading. Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 percent at the end of the session, and Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1 percent.

In Asia, the Nikkei index in Japan closed down 0.7 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.1 percent, and the Shanghai composite ended the session 0.6 percent lower.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss