Stocks pared losses but still finished lower on Thursday. Ken Meyers has your market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

  • The Dow rebounded from a 134 point decline to close down 42 points at 13944.The S&P 500 fell 3 points to 1509. The NASDAQ retreated 3 points to 3165.
  • The major averages ended the session in negative territory amid uncertainty surrounding Europe. The market declined after ECB President Mario Draghi signaled recent strength of the euro could impact the region’s recovery.
  • On the economic front, weekly jobless claims came in at 366,000, down from the prior reading of 371,000 but above the consensus estimate of 360,000. Separate reports showed non-farm productivity fell 2.0% and unit labor costs increased 4.5% in the fourth quarter.
  • Materials and energy were the worst performing sectors Thursday. U.S Steel declined 1.8% to $22.32. Shares of Exxon fell 1.1% to $88.25. Retailers were also weak with Gap losing 3.0% to $32.23 despite reporting January sales that beat analyst projections. Consumer staples were the best performing group. Philip Morris gained 2.4% to $89.82 after quarterly results topped consensus estimates. Over in tech, Apple added 3.0% to $468.22 after hedge fund Greenlight Capital urged the company to return more cash to shareholders.
  • Breadth was negative on the NYSE by 4-3 on issues and 9-5 on volume. NYSE Composite volume totaled more than 3.5 billion shares. The NASDAQ was negative by 5-3 on issues and 3-2 on volume. The 10-year note was unchanged to yield 1.96%.

For the complete report, click Ken's Market Report.

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