Month Ends Quietly for Stocks
The Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes rounded out their best month since January and the Dow Jones industrial average posted its biggest monthly gain since April, even though all three indexes ended nearly flat Thursday as investors hesitated to make big bets before today’s August employment report.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 4.4% for the month, its best advance for August in six years. The Dow gained 1.8% and the S&P; 500 advanced 2.1%.
Thursday’s retail reports for August showed stronger-than-expected same-store sales at teen-oriented retailers American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch but some disappointing numbers from companies such as J.C. Penney and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers.
After the closing bell, coffee shop chain Starbucks reported sales at the high end of Wall Street’s forecasts and its shares rose to $31.42 in late trading, after closing at $31.01, up 27 cents.
During the regular session, tame inflation data on core consumer prices from the Commerce Department failed to inspire investors, as did midday comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.
“There’s nothing compelling here to really move the market either way. Economic numbers that came out today were bland ... and retail sales were kind of mixed,” said Victor Pugliese, managing director and head of New York equity trading at First Albany Corp.
“The holiday weekend has started.”
The Dow was down 1.76 points to end at 11,381.15. The S&P; 500 fell just 0.45 of a point to finish at 1,303.82. The Nasdaq fell 1.98 points, or 0.1%, to close at 2,183.75.
Bond yields continued their fall after Bernanke suggested the Fed could be more relaxed about rising wages because they would be countered by gains in productivity, limiting the inflationary effect. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to a fresh five-month low of 4.73%, from 4.75% on Wednesday.
Crude oil futures edged up 23 cents to $70.26 a barrel in New York trading.
Gold futures rose $8.20 an ounce to $625.90.
Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors in Albany, N.Y., said all eyes on Wall Street today would be on the jobs report.
The employment number is “the grandpappy of them all in any given month,” he said, with investors combing through the nonfarm payrolls report to glean clues about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed’s Sept. 20 meeting.
Economists polled by Reuters expect that 120,000 jobs were added in August, after July’s gain of 113,000.
Volume on Thursday was light ahead of the long Labor Day holiday weekend, with just 1.33 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, well below last year’s daily average of 1.61 billion.
The Nasdaq snapped a five-day winning streak.
The Morgan Stanley hi-tech index of 35 leading technology stocks has risen 8.6% since Aug. 14, before September investor conferences, and as investors look to typically stronger results in the last half of the year. The index fell 0.4% on Thursday.
Shares of upscale department store chain Nordstrom shot higher after it said sales at stores open at least a year beat Wall Street expectations. Nordstrom’s stock jumped 5.9%, or $2.07, to $37.35.
Strong back-to-school shopping lifted August sales. Shares of teen retailers American Eagle rose 3.9%, or $1.43, to $38.61, and Abercrombie added 1.8%, or $1.15, to $64.53. In contrast, shares of department store operator J.C. Penney edged down 0.2%, or 12 cents, to $63.04.
Shares of men’s apparel retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers sank 16%, or $4.56, to $23.93 after the company reported a decline in August same-store sales.
Shares of mining equipment maker Joy Global jumped 21.5%, or $7.71, to $43.54 after it reported a profit that topped analysts’ expectations and forecast revenue growth for the next 12 months.
Shares of Exxon Mobil were the biggest drag on the S&P; 500 index, even as U.S. crude oil for October delivery rose 23 cents to settle at $70.26 a barrel.
Exxon Mobil shares fell 0.9%, or 63 cents, to $67.67.
Before the opening bell, the Commerce Department reported that core consumer prices, stripping out food and energy, rose slightly less than economists had forecast.
That suggested that the Fed might keep rates steady after pausing in August from a two-year campaign to tighten monetary policy.
