Shares Are Mixed After Jobs Report

Stocks were mostly higher on Friday, lifted by a positive report from the Labor Department on job creation and the unemployment rate.

Trading was light, continuing the week’s trend of slight moves and anemic volume. The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index gained 0.1 percent for the week after several volatile sessions.

Stocks opened higher after the nonfarm payrolls report, which showed 146,000 jobs added in November, far more than had been expected, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent. A poor reading on consumer sentiment caused an erosion of those gains, though markets rebounded later.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for early December fell to its lowest level since August. Sentiment declined on growing concerns over the fiscal debates in Washington, which have been a major factor preventing broader moves as well.

“We’re not as concerned as we were a few months ago because of improvement like you can see in the employment number, but there’s such a wild card over” the fiscal talks, Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, said. “There are such concerns about what could happen that markets will be overhung until a resolution is more certain.”

One of the biggest drags on the Nasdaq was Apple, which fell 2.6 percent to $533.25, extending its losses for the week to 8.9 percent. This was the worst week for the stock since May 2010.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 81.09 points, or 0.62 percent, to close at 13,155.13. The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index rose 4.13 points, or 0.29 percent, to 1,418.07. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 11.23 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 2,978.04. For the week, the Nasdaq was down 1.1 percent, hurt largely by the decline in Apple. The Dow, which does not count Apple as a component, rose 1 percent for its third consecutive week of gains. The S. P. 500 was also up for three consecutive weeks, rising 4.3 percent over that period.

The equity market has regained most of the ground it lost after President Obama’s re-election as markets turned their focus to the tax increases and spending cuts that are coming if Congress and the president fail to reach a budget agreement. Market response to macroeconomic data remained muted as negotiations continued to command investors’ attention.

The House speaker, John Boehner, said talks this week with Mr. Obama had produced no progress. He renewed his demand that the president make a new offer to avert the series of tax increases and spending cuts that are likely to hurt economic demand in 2013.

Material shares were the strongest performers of the day. Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold gained 2.9 percent, to close at $31.70 Dow Chemical added 2.2 percent, to $30.30.

Amarin, a biopharmaceutical company, fell 18.9 percent, to $9.69, in New York. It raised $100 million in financing to help it introduce its heart drug, Vascepa, but it disappointed investors, who had hoped for a sale or partnership.

CombiMatrix, a medical research company, gained 336.6 percent, to $8.60, after the company said two studies published in a medical journal favored technology it uses for prenatal diagnosis of genetic abnormalities over traditional technologies.

Groupon, the online coupon provider, was one of the day’s leading gainers, rising 88 cents, or 23 percent, to $4.68, but it was still well below the $24.58 it reached in February.

Interest rates were higher. The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year bond fell 3/32, to 100 1/32, and the yield rose to 1.62 percent from 1.59 percent late on Thursday.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss