Blue chip and technology stocks staged a late rally on Wall Street after some encouraging US jobs data helped remove fears of a double dip recession.Initial US unemployment claims declined by 3000 to 450,000, its lowest level in two months, beating econom
Blue chip and technology stocks staged a late rally on Wall Street after some encouraging US jobs data helped remove fears of a double dip recession.
Initial US unemployment claims declined by 3000 to 450,000, its lowest level in two months, beating economists' expectations for a rise of 9000.
Technology stocks headed the climb, buoyed by growing faith that the economy is slowing but not headed toward a second slump.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 22.10 points, or 0.2%, to 10,594.83.
The S&P 50 index slipped marginally to 1124.66, while the Nasdaq Composite edged up 1.93, or 0.1%, to 2303.25.
While all the benchmark indexes have surged this month, the Nasdaq has outpaced its peers. It has climbed 9% since the start of September as fears of a double-dip recession have relaxed. The Dow has gained 5.8% this month, while the S&P 500 has added 7.2%
Other markets: Europe, Asia down
European stocks fell. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.8% at 263.47.
The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.3% to 5540.14, France's CAC-40 index lost 0.5% at 3736.30 and Germany's DAX dropped 0.2% to 6249.65.
Chinese shares ended sharply lower on worries about a possible interest-rate increase and a rise banks' capital-adequacy ratios.
China's Shanghai Composite dropped as much as 2.6% during the session before recovering to close down 1.9% at 2602.47.
Japanese shares reversed early gains to end lower as the yen recovered from its sharp fall in the previous session in the wake of a currency market intervention.
The Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.1% to 9509.50, although Toyota rose 1.7%, Toshiba added 0.5% and Sony gained 1.7%.
India's Sensex fell for the first time in seven days, losing 0.4% to 19417.49 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slid 1.2% to 4605.32.
Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Crude-oil futures were weaker as the scheduled restart of a major Canada-US pipeline erased near-term supply worries.
The October delivery contract was down $US1.39, or 1.8%, at $US74.63 in New York. ICE North Sea Brent crude for November delivery was down 16USc at $79.26 a barrel.
Gold futures posted a new record settlement as the US dollar weakened.
The most-actively traded gold contract for December delivery rose $US5.10, or 0.4%, to a record settlement of $US1273.80 an ounce in New York.
Currencies: Euro up, dollar down
The euro touched the strongest point against the US dollar in more than a month after a well-received auction of Spanish government debt.
Meantime, the dollar held onto Wednesday's sharp advance spurred by Japan's massive intervention to staunch the recent strengthening of the yen.
Japan's estimated two trillion yen ($US24 billion) intervention has left currency investors cautious.
The euro was at $US1.3084 from $US1.3012 late on Wednesday. The dollar moved to ¥85.77 from ¥85.59 yen.
The euro advanced to ¥112.22 from ¥111.38 yen. The UK pound moved to $US1.5642 from $US1.5619. The dollar jumped to 1.0142 Swiss francs from 1.0035.
