NEW YORK — Investors’ cautious optimism about the job market gave stocks a modest lift Thursday, one day before the government’s report on December employment.
Stocks closed mostly higher after many retailers issued upbeat holiday sales figures and the Labor Department reported a leveling of the number of newly laid-off workers applying for unemployment benefits.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended at new 15-month highs, while the Nasdaq composite edged lower.
Stuart Schweitzer, global markets strategist at J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank in New York, said markets have been in a holding pattern as traders looked to today’s jobs report from the Labor Department. Analysts are expecting job losses will shrink from the 11,000 lost in November, and some economists expect the economy to add jobs.
The Dow rose 33.18, or 0.3 percent, to 10,606.86. The broader S&P 500 index rose 4.55, or 0.4 percent, to 1,141.69. It was the highest close for both indexes since Oct. 1, 2008.
The Nasdaq fell 1.04, or 0.1 percent, to 2,300.05.
“Everyone is waiting for the fireworks,” Schweitzer said.
He predicted investors would take in stride a modest loss or gain in jobs, but that any number well outside expectations could cause worries about a slide in the economy or, conversely, that rapid growth would risk triggering inflation.
“It’s a case of not too hot and not too cold, but somewhere in the middle,” he said.
The government reported a slight rise in claims for unemployment benefits, though the increase was less than expected.
Thursday’s reports come as investors hunt for more evidence of economic strength to sustain a 10-month bull run in the stock market. Trading in recent days has offered few clues about the direction of the markets in 2010 as investors held back ahead of the jobs report. A stubbornly high unemployment rate remains one of the biggest drags on the economy, and investors are still waiting for hiring to rebound before concluding that a true recovery has taken hold.
