chứng khoán mỹ xnah lại do giá dầu giảm

chứng khoán mỹ xnah lại do giá dầu giảm

Dow 12,479.31 +76.46 +0.62%

Nasdaq 2,516.90 +36.42 +1.47%

S&P 500 1,387.04 +9.39 +0.68%

10 Yr Bond 3.9090% +0.0110

Stocks turn higher as oil prices reteat
Wednesday June 4, 12:21 pm ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Stocks advance as service sector report shows expansion, oil prices continue to decline


NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks rebounded Wednesday as investors digested a report that said the service economy managed growth last month and as oil prices extended their retreat from recent highs.
Wall Street''s advance comes after two straight days of selling that left the Dow Jones industrial average down 235 points. So some bargain-hunting after the pullback was to be expected.

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The Institute for Supply Management''s service sector index came to 51.7 percent for May; while any reading above 50 signals economic expansion, the figure is down from 52 in April. Still, the reading did show that the economy, while behaving erratically, isn''t in a steady downturn.

Hugh Whelan, managing director at Hartford Investment Management Co., said the ISM reading helped investors cast off some of their worries about the economy but that the retrenchment in oil prices was the primary reason behind the move higher in stocks.

"In the market''s mind there is this direct tension between the price of oil and if the consumer is going to be able maintain spending," he said.

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 64.98, or 0.52 percent, to 12,467.83.

Broader stock indicators also advanced. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index rose 7.42, or 0.54 percent, to 1,385.07, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 30.33, or 1.22 percent, to 2,510.81.

Bond prices fell as stocks advanced. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.92 percent from 3.89 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell $1.24 to $123.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the Energy Department reported that demand for gasoline eroded last week and that fuel inventories jumped more than expected. Still, retail gas prices advanced to a fresh record above $3.98 a gallon.

Despite the session''s gains, Whelan expects Wall Street will likely remain moored to its current levels until there is a sustained pullback in oil and until a more robust corporate profit picture emerges.

"I think broadly speaking we''ll probably trade at a range over the next few months," he said. "From a valuation perspective the market is right where it should be given current profit levels."

He said some investors are gravitating toward technology stocks thinking that profits at such companies are likely to hold up better in a weak economy and that tech could be an early winner should the economy begin to show signs of picking up steam.

"It''s just a sector that is not plagued by some of the worries that are foremost on people''s mind," he said, pointing to concerns about credit quality that are dogging the financial sector and unease over the effect of rising energy prices on companies dependent on consumer spending.

In corporate news, J.M. Smucker Co. said it agreed to acquire the Folgers coffee brand from Procter & Gamble Co. in a $2.95 billion stock deal. Smucker rose 62 cents to $54.37, while P&G advanced 79 cents to $66.20.

Investors snapped up shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. after reports that Merrill Lynch raised its rating on the company -- an upgrade that came a day after worries about the company''s finances sent Lehman shares down sharply. The investment bank on Tuesday denied rumors that it had tapped the Federal Reserve''s discount window because of cash problems. Reports Tuesday that the investment bank needs to raise up to $4 billion in capital touched off further concerns about the health of the financial sector. On Wednesday, the stock rose $1.36, or 4.4 percent, to $31.97.

United Airlines parent UAL Corp. rose 84 cents, or 10 percent, to $9.37 after saying it plans to cut as many as 1,100 more jobs, remove 70 fuel-hungry aircraft from its fleet and reduce domestic capacity to trim costs in the face of surging energy costs. The nation''s No. 2 carrier previously said it planned to cut 500 jobs and that it would mothball some of its least fuel-efficient aircraft.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 529.5 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.74, or 1.05 percent, to 746.76.

Overseas, Japan''s Nikkei stock average rose 1.59 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain''s FTSE 100 fell 1.28 percent, Germany''s DAX index fell 0.66 percent, and France''s CAC-40 declined 1.16 percent.