The Nasdaq composite index gained 50.54 points or 1.34 percent to 3,810.42 points in early trading Friday, while the Dow Jones industrials slipped 4.30 points or 0.04 percent to 10,702.28 points at 1430 GMT, one hour after the start of trading.
The Standard and Poor's 500 index advanced 5.11 points or 0.35 percent to 1,457.67.
Traders seemed relieved by an announcement that US unemployment rates remained unchanged from June to July at four percent, and that there was a net loss of 108,000 US jobs.
The figures confirm a slowdown in economic growth, decreasing the likelihood that the Fed will boost a key interest rate at August 22 meeting.
The bond market was mixed. The average yield on 10-year Treasury bonds relaxed to 5.931 percent from 5.944 percent at closing Thursday, while the yield on 30-year bonds tightened to 5.747 percent from 5.732. Yields and prices move inversely on the bond market.
Disney was up 7/8 at 41-13/16 while its rival Time Warner slipped 1/8 to 76-7/16.
In telecommunications, Motorola was up 1/2 at 36-9/16, the Finnish company Nokia gained 7/16 to 40-13/16, and the Swedish Ericsson 1/16 at 18-1/8.
Bank and finance stocks benefited from the employment news and its potential effect on interest rates. Bank of America was up 1-1/4 at 50-5/16, Morgan Stanley 2-1/16 at 95-15/16, Merrill Lynch 4-3/4 at 134-9/16 and JP Morgan 3-1/2 at 138-1/2.
High technology stocks rallied on the Nasdaq. Emulex, a maker of networking equipment, jumped 17-3/16 or 36 percent to 64-3/4 after the announcement of greater-than-expected fourth quarter profits.
Cisco climbed 1-7/8 to 66-1/4, JDS Uniphase was up 1-5/16 at 118 and Juniper Networks 3 dollars at 142-1/8.
Microsoft was off 3/4 at 69-1/2, after the opening of a European commission on alleged abuses of its dominant market position.
Oracle was ahead 2-3/8 at 79-13/16. Mercator Software jumped 5-1/16 to 26 dollars after announcing a marketing agreement with Tibco Software, which was ahead 3-1/4 at 105-3/8.
Semi-conductor and microprocessor makers fell on profit-taking. Altera was down 5 dollars to 98-1/4 after advancing 5-13/16 Thursday. Advanced Micro Devices fell 1-1/8 to 63-1/2 while Intel shed 15/16 to 64-1/8 after gaining 1-13/16 the day before – NEW YORK (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
