NEW YORK — U.S. stocks on Thursday ended mostly higher in offering a benign reaction to the government’s report on employment, which declined only a bit more than expected in June, offsetting worries that the ailing economy is getting worse.
“I’m wondering if that (the market’s reaction) is the short-day, pre-holiday weekend or that there is not enough in these numbers that differs from consensus,” said Christopher Molumphy, chief investment officer for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group.
“I suppose the only positive is that we still are not seeing job losses that are consistent with recessionary levels, if that is any ray of hope,” Molumphy said.
After rising more than 100 points during the holiday-shortened session, the Dow Jones industrial average ended at 11,288.54, up 73.03 points, or 0.7 percent.
The finish leaves the blue-chip index with a weekly loss of 0.5 percent and had it closing for a second day in bear-market territory, down more than 20 percent from its record high of 14,164.53, hit on Oct. 9, 2007.
Of the Dow’s 30 components, 22 ended in the green, with United Technologies Corp. up the most, gaining 2.3 percent.
American Insurance Group Inc. proved the Dow’s biggest decliner, off 1.9 percent.
The S&P 500 advanced 1.38 points to 1,262.9, leaving the index down 1.2 percent from June 27 and flirting with bear-market turf, down 19.2 percent from the Oct. 10 closing high of 1,562.
Materials and industrials fronted gains among the S&P’s 10 industry groups, with the former up 0.8 percent and the latter gaining 0.7 percent.
Energy declined the most, down 1.7 percent, followed by utilities, off 1 percent.
Having already breached bear-market status, the Nasdaq composite remained there Thursday, shedding 6.08 points, or 0.3 percent, to end at 2,245.38, off 3 percent for the week and off 21.5 percent from its Oct. 31 high of 2,859.
Nvidia Corp. was among the shares weighing on the technology sector, with the chipmaker finishing down 30.7 percent after trimming its quarterly forecast.
In early electronic trade on Globex, crude oil surged to another record high, reaching $145.85 a barrel, before retreating slightly.
On the New Mercantile Exchange, crude was recently up 73 cents at $144.30 a barrel.
Ahead of the opening bell, the Labor Department reported payrolls dropped by 62,000 workers last month after a 62,000 decline in May that proved bigger than first estimated. The jobless rate remained at 5.5 percent.
“It’s pretty consistent with what we have been seeing. Gas prices are certainly impacting the recruiting pool,” said Roy Krause, president and chief executive of recruitment firm Spherion.
In a later report, the Institute for Supply Management said the services sector of the U.S. economy contracted unexpectedly in June, falling to its lowest level since the start of the year.
