US Market struggles to register modest gains

Investors become cautious ahead of tomorrow's crucial job and unemployment report

After an entire day of almost flat trading, US stocks inched in the green territory in the final hour of trading and the indices ended little higher for the day today, Thursday, 4 October 2007. Investors digested weak economic reports and waited for tomorrow's crucial job and unemployment report. Eight out of ten economic sectors registered gains.

The Dow Jones industrial Average closed higher by 6.26 points at 13,974.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index, finished higher by 4.14 points at 2,733.57. S&P 500 finished higher by 3.25 points at 1,542.84.

Eighteen of thirty Dow stocks ended in green. Merck, United Technologies, P&G and CoCo-Cola led the group of Dow winners. IBM, Exxon Mobil, Caterpillar and Citigroup were the major Dow decliners.

In the morning, the Department of Labor reported that weekly initial jobless claims (number of Americans filing new claims for state unemployment insurance) for the week ended 28 September rose to 317k, up from the previous reading of 301k.

After that, the Department of Commerce reported that factory orders in August slipped 3.3%, as against the consensus estimate that called for a decrease of 2.8%. Orders had rose 3.4% in July.

Blockbuster result from RIMM fails to impress market

After opening higher for the day, stocks fell in the face of a larger-than-anticipated drop in factory orders and a modest rise in jobless claims. Ultimately, at the end, indices managed to close in the green.

But the economic reports were not much of market movers. It seemed that investors wanted to keep money away today and rather wait for tomorrow's unemployment report.

Investors waited for Research in Motion (RIMM), the maker of Blackberry devices, to report earnings after the close today. The company reported a second-quarter profit that beat expectations. Earnings per share registered 100% increase on a y-o-y basis. The company crossed the 10 million subscriber mark and predicted strength for the rest of the year. But the company's stock struggled in after-hours trading.

Among Indian ADRs, all ended in green barring ICICI Bank and Rediff.com. tata Motors and MTNL were the top gainers gaining 1.7% and 1.95 respectively.

Crude oil futures were back above $81/barrel today. Prices rose after dollar once again weakened today against its rival currencies. Crude-oil futures for light sweet crude for November delivery closed at $81.44/barrel (higher by $1.50/barrel or 1.8%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1.1 billion shares were exchanged, with advancing stocks outpacing decliners 5 to 3. Volume on the Nasdaq topped 1.1 billion shares, and advancers outran declining stocks 4 to 3.

For tomorrow, investors will have U.S. Labor Department's September jobs report before the market opens. Also garnering some attention will be the August Consumer Credit report.